Digi-Tale
by IronChainDragon
Summary: After an accident revives the human SOULs, Frisk decides they deserve a nice vacation. This was not what she had in mind. Female Frisk and Chara, the fallen children are the DigiDestined.
1. Intro to Digi-World

Daichi: So, I think we all saw this story idea coming from a mile away. The real question is how to design the other kids...

Verity: We don't own Digimon, we don't own Undertale, we don't own anything here.

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"Frisk! Frisk, get down from there!" Frisk Dreemurr, technically princess of the monsters, but only second in line (First in line going to her almost-identical sister Chara), glared down from the tree.

"Come on, I survived the underground. I think I can handle falling from a tree."

Sophia Combs, one of seven accidental resurrections, and most violent ballerina ever, sighed. "Not that. Your flower is tormenting people again." Why had she brought Flowey along? Right, because Chara was too ill to play with him and bad things happen when Flowey is bored. Part of the reason she SAVEs every morning.

"Oh. I take it Nate went on about his theories to much?" Nate Beasley was the student of the group, and constantly went on about theories and discoveries. "Actually, why don't you handle it?"

"Because Sans wants us to be nice." Sophia pointed over to where the skeleton was talking with Marcus Simpkin, who was once arrested for illegal possession of a firearm. "Why is he our counselor, again?"

"Because Papyrus was upset he wasn't doing anything and looking after us... doesn't require much effort."

"Does he ever even try?" Frisk stiffened, remembering a world where things had gone very, very wrong.

"It's better that he doesn't."

"What do you mean-" But Frisk had already gone to confront her favorite flower.

"Look, Flowey, stop tormenting Charnette." Charnette Rhodes, whose hobbies included playing house and picking flowers, sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Frisk. I don't know how much longer it would be before I started gaining LOVE." Not that she'd actually follow through with it. Charnette was the sweetest little kid they'd ever met, the youngest of them at seven years old. Not that any of them were over the age of fourteen.

"Well, you wouldn't have as much LOVE as Sophia, Chara, Marcus, or Stan." She gestured over all of them, stopping momentarily at the boxer Stanley Boon, LV five. The lowest of them that actually had LOVE. Chara had the most, at nineteen. Nate looked up from his notebook.

"That's true, especially since there wouldn't be as much intent to harm as they would have."

Flowey seemed like he was realizing the true meaning of fear. "...Please don't kill me. Frisk, you know what too much LOVE does to people. You saw what happened to Chara."

"Relax, bro, I wouldn't let them kill you." Flowey looked mad. He was always mad when one of the humans mentioned Asriel. "Now, I may tell mom not to let you have any more pie..."

Finlay Statham, who dreamed of being a master chef, and the only one besides the Dreemurr girls who Flowey would tolerate, passed by at that moment. "Hey, Flowey, if they cut you off, I have a new recipe."

"Fin! Don't encourage him!" Frisk could tell that, under different circumstances, there was no way they would all be friends. But life was weird like that. Ignoring the gut instinct that told her to SAVE, which should have served as a warning, she headed over to where Sans had let Marcus go- literally, as the kid had been held in the small skeleton's blue magic. "What am I going to do with these people...?"

"look, kid, you knew you had pitfalls ahead when you decided not to RESET."

"I know, but... I'm never getting through to them, am I?"

"hang in there. you got through to your sister, didn't you? if it makes you feel better, i'm rooting for ya, kiddo."

"Thanks, Sans." For a moment, the ground almost shifted beneath her feet. "Did you feel that? Either Chara suddenly got access to my powers, Flowey somehow got more DETERMINATION, or something big is going on." A small device made an appearance and fell into her hand. "My point exactly."

Why was this happening? This was supposed to be a normal camping trip, with minimal time-space shenanigans! She saw Fin pick up Flowey in confusion, and felt Sans' hand on her shoulder, and then it all went blank.

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"Frisk, get up!" A shove. "Frisk..."

That wasn't Chara's voice, or Flowey's, or anyone she knew's really. Sitting up in surprise, she almost hit her head against the small green blob.

"Great, you're awake! I was worried. If it went wrong and you died or something, I don't know what I'd do! Oh, I'm Gummymon, by the way."

"Um..."

"Frisk, you're here!" Turning, she saw Flowey burrow up next to her. "This place is weird. If Chara were here, we could have a lot of fun! Oh, and Fin has something to show you." She didn't even have time to ask when he'd left his pot.

"Flowey, don't run off like that! It's safest if you stay in the pot!" He was followed by a small flame creature that was almost reminiscent of Grillby.

"Um, Fin..."

"Oh, yeah, this is DemiMeramon!"

"Fin, do you even know where we are?"

"I'm not sure. I saw Sans earlier, he said he was going to check up on the others. He might actually be trying."

"Fin, be nice. I know what Sans was going through before the barrier broke, and I can't really blame him. He's been trying harder lately," She pointed out. And it was true. The fact that she wasn't RESETting anytime soon probably helped that.

"Frisk, you, Chara, and Sans seem to have this big secret going on. I want in."

"Fin, if Sans won't tell Papyrus, what makes you think we'll tell you?" The argument was broken up when they heard a roar in the distance.

DemiMeramon shuddered. "It's Kuwagamon! He's back!"

"Run!" Gummymon cried. Frisk grabbed Fin and did as she said.

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They had no clue when they finally managed to get away other than that they collapsed as soon as they could, suddenly noticing the other presences. "You're all here already? How?"

The group and the creatures with them pointed at Sans. "Shortcut."

They were quickly introduced to the other small creatures, which identified themselves as 'Digimon'. Marcus had a small cat like creature called Frimon. Charnette had a fluffy fox called Viximon. Stan had a fuzzy blue thing called Wanyamon. Sophia was partnered with a purple ball of fuzz called Dorimon. Finally, Nate had a creature with metallic helmet and fluffy tail called Kapurimon.

They wanted further introduction, but they were tired, and Frisk knew that they'd be safe enough with Sans around, so they decided to put it off for a time, and surrendered into sleep.

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Daichi: So, the story is going to be very different. Flowey and Sans are there because they know enough about how space and time work that they'd find a way in anyway. Also, all of them have a reason for the partner I have chosen for them. Their partners are all the same gender as them, to make it easier. Feel free to guess, although if you know which chara-cter's which it shouldn't be too hard.


	2. Kuwagamon Strikes

Daichi: For reference, yes, Chara attempted a Genocide Run. However, she, Frisk, and Sans have an unspoken agreement not to talk about it. That's probably for the best.

Verity: We don't own these things.

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Dawn was breaking over the makeshift camp by the time Frisk opened her eyes again. Fin was roasting some nuts using DemiMeramon. She could see Sophia twirling about on the other side of the clearing, Dorimon watching in amusement. Nearby, Stan was punching a tree, while Wanyamon tackled it. So that was where Fin got the nuts.

At least they weren't eating raw meat, or whatever else Chara fed her venus flytrap. She had bought the plant shortly after the move aboveground and absolutely doted on it. Flowey was not amused. He was supposed to be her favorite houseplant! But, alas, he had lost out to something that did not demand pie.

Speaking of Flowey, he seemed to have disappeared. She worried for a moment, then realized that he knew better than to wander off. And Sans probably hadn't killed him, if only because if he was dead when they came back, Papyrus would be sad. And nothing meant more to Sans than his little brother's happiness. Which was helpful, if only because Sans knew better than to promise not to kill someone anymore.

Sure, she could just LOAD, but it was the principle of the thing. SAVING, she sat back against the roots of a nearby tree. Getting a better look at everything now that it was no longer evening, she could truly appreciate it.

The plant life was in all colors, not just the flowers, but the leaves and grass and even the trees were in all shades. Sunlight streamed through the branches, creating a dappled pattern on the forest floor. Wait, not forest, jungle floor. For just a moment, everything was peaceful. Just a moment. And then Marcus had to open his mouth.

"So, seriously, continuing yesterday's discussion... where the hell are we?"

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They had no clue where they were. None of them had ever seen a place like this before, where nuts could be the size of baseballs and trees had hollow insides. There were also unusual fruits, which Fin was really happy about.

"If we can find enough food in the wild, we can save our rations for when we really need them. If we find the right things, we might be able to preserve them and make them last longer." Because of this, breakfast was roasted nuts and a few slices of fruit. They weren't certain if it was safe for humans, skeletons, or flowers, but as the Digimon apparently ate them, it might be worth the risk.

Flowey returned a bit later, but there was still a bit of fruit left that he was more than willing to eat. "Photosynthesis is fine, but this lasts longer." Was his comment when Nate asked why he ate normal food. It might also have been a holdover from his time as Asriel, but nobody was going to bring that up.

On the other side of the clearing from Frisk, Sophia was helping Charnette get sticks and leaves out of her hair. "How did it get this bad?"

"I was really sleepy. I wish my hair was like yours." Sophia reached up to touch the little rounded lumps of hair.

"If you want, I can use that ribbon of yours to make a ponytail." Charnette grinned.

"Really?"

"Sure. I put my hair up before recitals, so I know how to do it. I don't just help Chara beat up bullies, you know." Maybe they wouldn't have been friends without everything they'd gone through, but Frisk simply couldn't see it any other way.

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Frisk was never one to get caught off her guard. She and Chara were the undisputed dodgeball champions at school for a reason. One of those reasons was a simple bit of healthy paranoia. Well, Chara's was less healthy, but they didn't go down easily. And while Frisk was more trusting, she still knew better than to ignore the large number of projectiles.

Having had to dodge the attacks of almost every monster in the underground helped, too. It was amazing how much needing to avoid little bullets and soap suds improved one's ability to avoid larger objects. Either way, Frisk wasn't someone to be startled easily.

Marcus and Frimon running into camp with Kuwagamon chasing them certainly did it, though.

"Everybody run!" He screamed.

"What did you do!?"

"We were just out for a walk!"

"Never mind that, let's get out of here!" Frisk glanced towards Sans for help, but he'd already teleported away. Fleeing on foot it was then.

She did remember to grab Flowey's pot, though. Losing that would be bad.

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Frisk was sure they'd passed that clearing before. Were they going in circles? Did it even matter at this point? She wasn't entirely sure on how long they'd been running. Next to her, though, Gummymon was panting. They couldn't go on like this. Sooner or later, they had to stop.

She could LOAD. But, no, Marcus and Frimon had already left by the time she woke up. She couldn't stop this. She might be able to convince Sans to help, but she was sure that, wherever he was, he was enjoying this. It wasn't like he'd leave them to die. Toriel would kill him. And then Chara would LOAD and do it again. And again. Until she was sure he'd gotten the picture. And then Toriel would kill him again. So, if he wasn't that worried, they couldn't be in that much trouble.

Behind her, Charnette was trying to run while holding Viximon. The little girl tripped over a branch and fell on the ground, dropping the small Digimon.

"No! Viximon!"

"Charnette, don't!" Fin called. But she had already turned to pick up the creature. Kuwagamon had caught up with them.

Stan turned around. "So, we have to fight, huh?"

"Stan, no! We aren't fighting!"

"Frisk, do we have anywhere we can hide? No. We have to fight." Sophia rested her hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "I know you don't like to, but we can do this."

Dorimon jumped up. "I'll help."

Gummymon nodded. "I can do this!"

The other Digimon added in their agreement. Frisk backed away, unsure of what to do.

"...Alright." She didn't know what to do, but she wasn't the only one. After his gun was confiscated, Marcus could only fight using the battle system, and Nate and Charnette were not very good at dodging.

Kuwagamon was fast. Nobody could get very close to it, and it was obvious they weren't getting anywhere. At least until the device in Frisk's pocket began to glow, and the others brought out similarly glowing objects. The light flew from them and enveloped their Digimon.

"Gummymon Digivolve to Terriermon!"

"Frimon Digivolve to Liollmon!"

"Viximon Digivolve to Renamon!"

"Wanyamon Digivolve to Gaomon!"

"Dorimon Digivolve to Dorumon!"

"Kapurimon Digivolve to Kotemon!"

"DemiMeramon Digivolve to Candlemon!"

When the light faded, the creatures were different. Gummymon was a small mix between a rabbit and a dog. Frimon was what looked like a feral cat, but could just of easily have been a starved lion cub. Viximon was a bipedal yellow fox with a white underbelly. Wanyamon was a blue bear with boxing gloves. Dorimon was larger and had bat-like wings. Kapurimon had the most change, becoming a humanoid being beneath some kind of sporting gear. Finally, DemiMeramon turned into a candle.

The creature Gummymon became ran up to Kuwagamon. "Bunny Blast!" The wave of energy knocked it back, and she scurried underneath, followed closely by what was once Frimon, who turned around once he was past it's legs.

"Lio Claw!" The slashing attack caused Kuwagamon to turn to the source, and the other five gathered behind, striking at once while it's back was turned.

"Diamond Storm!"

"Thunder Kote!"

"Wild Echo!"

"Metal Cannon!"

"Lava Loogie!"

When the attacks connected, the Kuwagamon fell down. Flowey looked to Frisk.

"Hey, Frisk, can I finish it off?"

"No!"

Sophia turned. "Still, let's get out of here before it gets back up."

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Daichi: I was debating between Hagurumon and Solarmon for a while before I remembered Kotemon, which fits Nate more, anyway.


	3. Rise of Gaogamon

Daichi: So, you may have noticed discrepancies in this story. Don't worry. They are meant to be there for a reason that will be delved into later. Also, the humans normally live with the monsters in pairs. Stan and Marcus live with Alphys and Undyne(She's giving them warrior training.), Frisk and Chara naturally live with Toriel and Asgore(They're willing to live in the same house! Progress!), Sophia and Nate live with Mettaton's family(Mad Dummy had to be told to behave), and Charnette and Fin live with Sans and Papyrus.(Fin's continuing to teach Papyrus how to cook. Firefighters come over a lot less often these days.)

BlackGatomon: She doesn't own this.

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Frisk shut her phone. "No service. Figures. And didn't we have to agree to call home every day to come on this trip? Mom is going to kill us..."

The little creature her Gummymon had become looked up. "Frisk? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just... if we can't get back by the end of the day, my sister is going to flip. And you do not want to see her mad." Or even slightly upset. A basic rule of survival was that either you stay on Chara's good side, or have Sans nearby. She might no longer have been particularly murderous, but that still left plenty of ways to harm somebody. "Say, about earlier... what happened to you guys?"

"Oh, we just Digivolved."

Marcus sighed. "And what the hell is Digivolving?"

His little cat twitched his tail. "Digivolving is how we get more powerful. We have no clue how or why it happens, it just does. We change names, too. I'm Liollmon now."

Frisk scratched her Digimon behind the ears. "What are you called now?"

"I'm Terriermon!"

Charnette's partner turned around. "Are we all introducing ourselves, then? In this form, you may call me Renamon." This was a total shift from her playful attitude as Viximon.

Stan's Digimon dipped his head. "It's Gaomon."

Sophia's purple creature fluttered her little wings excitedly. "They call me Dorumon!"

Fin's candle spoke up. "Call me Candlemon."

Finally, Nate's digimon introduced himself. "My Rookie Level is Kotemon." Short, but to the point. But what was Rookie level?

Sophia turned and looked around. "Say, where's Sans?"

"He left as soon as Kuwagamon showed up. He'll be back." Flowey squirmed. "Now let me out of this pot, Frisk!"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I know that if I let you out, you will likely end up killing something."

She started walking. Terriermon climbed up on her shoulder, and Frisk made no move to stop her.

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After Sans rejoined the group with the news that, no, he could not teleport them off of the island, the group decided to head for a beach, figuring that maybe they could find something useful.

Along the way, Dorumon came up with the idea of playing a game as they walked. Stan grinned.

"Okay, how about everyone has to tell their worst decision in the past five years or so?" Frisk stopped for a moment.

"Can we... not?"

"What is it, Frisk? Too embarrassing?"

"No."

"Then what's the problem?" The problem? She didn't want them to hate her and Chara. Nobody knew about her powers but Chara, Flowey, and Sans, and they all figured that things would be better that way. They didn't need to know how Sans always managed to find them and bail them out of trouble at the last second, or how Chara and Flowey accumulated blackmail material.

"It's just... it's not embarrassing, just... tragic." Tragic. Well, that was one way to put it.

"What could you have done? You're just a kid!" A kid with the power to rewind time. A kid who faced down Flowey at his worst. The kid who redeemed the demon that comes when you call her name. The girl who's greatest accomplishments had to go unnoticed.

Fortunately, she had Sans on her side. "if the kid doesnt want to talk about it, its fine. come on. weve got a skele-ton of ground to cover."

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Upon reaching the beach, the group noticed a large number of payphones. Stan took off for it, and Nate sighed.

"Doesn't he realize they need power to function?" The boxer picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Hey, Al, hate to break the news to you, but-" He blinked and hung up the phone. "...That wasn't Alphys."

"What hap-"

"You don't want to know. Trust me, whoever that was would scare Chara." That would have to be... pretty horrific. Chara was hard to scare. The only times she'd been scared that Frisk could remember were in the True Lab and... well... the other thing.

"Let's not use these."

It was getting near afternoon, so they decided to break for lunch. They didn't have much, but there were leftovers from breakfast, so Fin served that. Some of the Digimon didn't like it quite as much as they had before Digivolving, but they still ate it, as they needed energy for in case they ran into trouble. That was good, as it seemed trouble was looking for them.

The ground rumbling was the first clue. The blast of water that destroyed the phone booths was the second. The third, and final, clue came with the giant pink snail with seaweed for hair. It sort of reminded Frisk of Shyren.

Flowey took one look at the creature. "Well, I'm out." Frisk picked up the pot so he couldn't run away. "I don't want to die, Frisk!"

"Flowey, have you tried burrowing through sand before?"

Candlemon hopped back a bit. "That's a Shellmon! They have very short tempers, and their shells are really tough!"

Fin laughed a bit. "Guess we can't make sushi out of him, then? Hey, Sans, a little help here?"

"nah. cant be bothered."

Frisk, despite everything, gave a small smile. "The ultimate lazybones."

Marcus blinked a few times. "Sans has corrupted Frisk. We are doomed."

Charnette dipped her head to the side. "What's wrong with that? I think it's rather punny."

"Why did we let him near this innocent little child?"

"Guys, seriously, not the time!" Sophia hopped back a bit, closely followed by Dorumon.

Terriermon grinned. "Frisk, let's do this!"

"Terriermon... I don't like fighting." The small rabbit-dog looked her partner in the eye.

"Why not?"

"I... I just don't." She cried out as a jet of water blasted her. Eight damage. She'd been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed.

Stan picked himself up. "Well, I can't just wait here to die again, can I?" He ran and picked up some metal from one of the phone booths before turning and charging at Shellmon.

"Stan, wait for me!" Gaomon barked. He ran to join him, before getting trapped under one of Shellmon's claws. Another claw went flying out, and struck at Stan. His SOUL appeared, showing that he had lost roughly half of his health. The orange heart shape vanished as quickly as it came when another blow came at him.

He couldn't survive this. Frisk was prepared to LOAD, when-

"Gaomon Digivolve to Gaogamon!" A larger blue dog appeared and pushed Shellmon away. Another spray of water came at the Digimon, but Gaogamon leaped away from it with ease.

"Again?" Nate asked. Kotemon shrugged, as though unsure of what was happening. Gaogamon leapt over one of Shellmon's claws, finally getting in close range.

"Dash Double Claw!" The attack was weaker than it should have been, but it did the trick of getting Shellmon to reconsider the attack.

"Spiral Blow!" This one was enough to get the shellfish to leave. With that, Gaogamon was enveloped in light and shrank back down to Gaomon.

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"So, to sustain your higher Digivolved states, you seem to need high amounts of energy," Nate noted, writing it down in his notebook. Kotemon shrugged.

"I'm just glad to hear I'll still be able to protect you."

Frisk turned from where she stood up, Flowey balanced precariously on her head. "We should go before Shellmon decides he wants to try his luck again. Come on."

And the group set off towards new adventures, unaware that they had started on a path that would take them to places beyond their wildest dreams.

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Daichi: Because the team has a different dynamic than the original group, Digivolution orders will be difficult to pinpoint for these kids. Still, their personalities should be enough to give some sort of hint.


	4. Gargomon Appears

Daichi: I may have a bit too much time on my hands.

Verity: You spend all day doing nothing but watching bad music videos.

Tsukaimon: We really don't own this.

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Frisk turned from one Monochromon to another. "Quick question. Aren't grazers generally the types of creatures to live in herds? Why are you fighting?"

"...That's a very good question. Why were we fighting?"

"I think it had something to do with alcohol."

"That exists here?" Fin asked himself. The others just shrugged.

Frisk returned from where the larger Digimon were lumbering off. "Good news! The Monochromon told me where we can find a lake to spend the night! It's just fifteen minutes to the north of here."

"Are you sure we can trust them?" Sophia crossed her arms.

"Don't worry. We've got our Digimon, and I think I've proven several times over that I can stop others from wanting to hurt me." She glared at Marcus.

"Oh, come on! You mistake someone for a monster one time, and you never hear the end of it."

"You almost shot me!" But, in reality, she had forgiven him long ago. Frisk was a forgiving child, as she had proven several times. They set off for the lake.

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The lake was beautiful, reflecting the rays of the sun. Frisk planted Flowey, warning him not to wander off. "I'm not sure if anything here eats flowers," she said, "but better safe than sorry."

Fin had the Digimon working on gathering edible plants, as they knew what was and was not poisonous. For a moment, Frisk wondered about meat, but she didn't have to worry. A few minutes later, she heard a splash and saw a fish being lifted out of the water in the grip of Sans' magic.

Candlemon lit a fire with his Lava Loogie and used that to cook the food. There was no plates or silverware, but it wasn't the first time Frisk ate with her fingers. And this wasn't as sticky as butterscotch-cinnamon pie.

Nearby, Marcus was chasing after Liollmon. "Come on, give back that fish! It'll taste better cooked!"

"Mmf!" She thought he was laughing. It was hard to tell.

Nate came back from where he was scouting out the lake. "I found something strange. You guys should see this."

It was a trolley car on a small island connected to the mainland by a little strip of land. Charnette ran right in and plopped herself down on a seat.

"I suppose this really is the perfect place to spend the night. You were right, Frisk." Frisk laughed.

"Come on, of course I was right! I'm always right!" Why were they always doubting her? She was the one who had actual survival skills! At least, she told herself that. Having someone experienced piggybacking on her brain might have had something to do with that. But while it wasn't a big secret that Chara lingered around Frisk as a spirit in the Underground- for goodness sakes, they'd trolled Mettaton on live television!- they didn't know just how deep the connection had been.

She planned to keep it that way. Everyone had secrets. She just hid hers a little better.

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After dinner, everyone settled down in the trolley car. Well, almost everyone. They did have to keep a watch. Frisk sat outside, Terriermon right besides her.

"This is boring!" Terriermon complained.

"I like it. It's quiet. I can think like this." She opened her backpack, which had relatively few items inside. A pack of Temmie Flakes. The diary Toriel had given her to welcome her to the family after the adoption went through. And the item she was looking for. A small, silver, music box.

"What's that, Frisk?"

"It's a music box." She opened it, and a song began to play. "My siblings left it under a statue years ago, and after I found it again, they gave it to me." Well, one of them couldn't care less, and the other entirely forgot about it, but that counted, right? She liked the song.

"It's too quiet." Still, she leaned against her. Frisk smiled. The little Digimon was full of energy, but even she had to tire out eventually. She ruffled her partner's ears.

"Good night, Terriermon."

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She didn't know how long she sat there when Sans came out. "not much of a guard dog, is she?"

"It doesn't matter. It's not like there's going to be a big fight or anything, anyway. I mean, it's me. I can talk anything and anyone out of fighting." She had long since stopped being surprised by anything Sans did.

"i guess so. you managed to stop chara from fighting, and thats something." A question she'd been meaning to ask for some time came to the top of her head.

"Say, Sans, I've always wondered... how do you remember the RESETs?" Not just that, but he'd proven himself capable of remembering anything, no matter how many times she'd LOADed since then, he'd know them all. Actually, with all of the messing around with time and space she'd done, she could safely say he was immune to time-space shenanigans.

"thats a good question. i honestly dont remember." Of course. He had an impeccable memory for everything except how he could , she knew it wasn't a natural thing, if only because she'd asked Flowey, and he'd only started remembering when he was about ten or so. Not that they could really test that. All they knew was that Flowey had allowed the timeline to progress to when Sans was ten, his RESETs didn't take him quite as far back as they used to, and he had a very terrifying force to reckon with.

Frisk closed the music box in her lap, letting the last note be clipped off. She was so tired... maybe she could get some sleep.

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 _"I want to be your friend, Chara." The red-haired girl laughed at the brunette._

 _"Who needs friends? I've got knives!" Frisk had an intense feeling she'd been through this before. The Real Knife and Toy Knife whizzed through her intangible form, landing at Sans' feet. "I... I'm out of knives." Yeah, she'd definitely been in a similar situation before... and if all went well, she'd go through it again._

 _"Come on! Aren't you tired of dying over and over? It's not like we're stuck into this, or anything."_

 _"Really? You know he'll keep killing us, right? He remembers, Frisk. No matter what we do, he won't forget. He won't forget that we killed his brother. How Undyne melted when we stabbed her. That we... we managed to scare off Asriel."_

 _"Asriel? Who's Asriel?" This moment of distraction was all Chara needed to run past... only to slip on a banana peel that definitely hadn't been there a moment ago, and slide right into a Gaster Blaster._

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"Frisk, wake up!" She blinked up at Charnette. "You were tossing and turning, and I thought you were having a bad dream!" Sweet little Charnette. Utterly incapable of harming another living being.

"It wasn't that bad. It was actually getting pretty funny." That had been one of the later attempts. She knew that Sans had put the banana peel there on purpose. It had been hilarious. Even Chara would look back on it and laugh.

"Right, well..." Always ulterior motives with this group. "There's also this really big Digimon outside and we kinda hoped you could resolve the situation." Because basic survival skills 101: if ever you encounter something that won't apologize and leave after Charnette gives it puppy dog eyes, get Frisk. Princess Frisk Dreemurr. Princess Frisk 'Solves All Your Problems' Dreemurr. She was really too nice to these people.

Walking out of the trolley car, she saw that the island... was now really an island, having been pulled away from land and to the middle by a giant serpent.

"What's that?"

"Seadramon." Renamon stated flatly. "An aquatic Digimon of the Champion level." Like that was any help. She still had no clue how to act or anything. She walked to the shore.

"Um... Seadramon, would you mind returning us to the shore?" A thrashing tail answered that question. And then the ice started flying at her. This could not end well. If she allowed herself to get hit, she had no defenses and twenty HP. If she used her incredible dodging skills, her friends were in the line of fire, three of which were little better off than she was, and another of which was Sans, who, although she didn't really worry about him, still couldn't afford to let his guard down.

At least worrying about him was really unnecessary. As she'd noticed, having one HP makes you very good at dodging. Either way, someone was definitely going to get hit. But she couldn't back down. She mustered up her DETERMINATION. Not to SAVE or LOAD, but something else entirely.

A little rabbit-dog blinked awake and ran down the shore to Frisk. "Terriermon Digivolve to Gargomon!" She was larger and wore pants, with a gun in her belt.

"Gargo Pellets!" The bullets collided with the icicles, shattering them into little pieces. Seadramon lunged at the larger rabbit, but Gargomon was too fast.

"Bunny Pummel!" The serpent was thrown back, and retreated beneath the lake. Gargomon sighed and reverted to Terriermon.

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The next morning, it was decided that they had to get out of there. They couldn't risk Seadramon deciding it wanted another go. Sans teleported them to the shore and they set off into the forest of irrelevant road signs.

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Daichi: This chapter contains a lot of things that will be important to the plot later. You may want to keep that in mind.


	5. Showdown of Fire

Daichi: I'll be honest, this will probably take a long time.

Verity: She's upset that her school updated the security filter.

Daichi: The only thing I can do after finishing lunch! Gone!

BlackGatomon: I highly doubt someone who is literally stuck in eternal highschool owns these things. I may be wrong, but... not this one.

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When the sun rose, the group was in the middle of the desert. Maybe they should have stuck to the forest.

Marcus groaned. "This week is hell. First I get dragged off to camp. Then I end up in the forest. We get attacked by more bugs than I knew existed. Walking seafood tried to kill me, twice! And now I'm here. Joy."

Frisk sighed. "I know, I don't like it either. Come on, think of something nice, like Waterfall."

"I didn't like Waterfall."

"Hey, what's Waterfall like?" Charnette asked.

"Just what the name says. It's a bunch of waterfalls. My dad named it, remember? In case you hadn't noticed, he named our town 'Newer Home'." Asgore should not be allowed to name things anymore.

"Sometimes I can't believe I'm related to him."

"Like you're one to talk, Flowey the flower." It was obvious to all that Asriel had inherited his father's naming skills.

"Shut up! Guys, stop laughing! Frisk, stop it, you're going to drop me!" Maybe she shouldn't have insisted on carrying Flowey in his pot on her head. "Frisk, don't you dare let me fall! Frisk!" She wouldn't let him fall. Not that he knew that.

The Digimon exchanged glances. "These people are weird," Terriermon decided, and the others left it at that.

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Frisk didn't know when they'd reached the village, just that one second she was walking with the others through a vast desert and the next they were swarmed by little pink radishes. "What are these?"

Kotemon shrugged. "Pyo-something."

"We're the Pyocomon!" One of them lifted their petals, possibly to get a better look at the strange creatures that had just came in. "What are you? I've never seen Digimon like you creatures before."

"We're not Digimon. We're humans... well, most of us. Sans is a skeleton and Flowey's... Flowey."

"What's a humans?" It was like dealing with the Tem all over again. Sophia groaned.

"Us. We're humans."

"But if you're not Digimon... how do you speak? Is a humans like a Digimon?"

"Does humans want to stay for dinner?"

Fin sighed. "I'm getting flashbacks to Temmie Village."

"You mean I'm not the only one?"

"Every village has an idiot. Some are just full of them," Flowey grumbled.

"Flowey, be nice."

Suddenly, Charnette spoke up. "I'm thirsty."

"do you have water? the kiddos need it."

"And the flower! I'm a plant, plants need water!" Yet the little soulless abomination went ignored.

"We have a well." The Pyocomon pointed to the center of the village. Charnette ran to it as quickly as her little legs would carry her. Frisk followed at a more moderate pace. The heat didn't really bother her. Walking through places able to support Pyrope would do that to you.

The only issue was lack of water.

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The sound of bucket hitting earth wiped away their hopes of a cold drink. One of the Pyocomon tried to make it better. "Well, we still have the lake..." It was dry, too. "Or, maybe not..."

"I'm not sure what happened. Our water comes straight from the springs on Mihirashi Mountain. Without it, this village can't survive."

At this, Fin stood up. "Where's Mihirashi Mountain? If you wanted, I could help figure out what's wrong with the water."

"You can't do that, Meramon wouldn't like it."

"Meramon? That sounds familiar..."

Candlemon jumped up a little. "That's because my prior form was named DemiMeramon."

"Really? If so, you may be able to reason with him. The mountain is over there."

"Great. Hey, Sans, could you give us a lift?"

"yeah, sure." He took hold of Fin and Candlemon, and the three disappeared.

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The base of Mihirashi Mountain looked like your average idyllic countryside. It seemed safe, but...

"Sans, could you pull me into the battle system? Not to actually fight or anything, but it would help to have my shields in case things go wrong..." No sooner had he said that than his green SOUL appeared.

A little known fact was that the battle system could be activated at any time, by anyone, however, it would require either magic or an intricate knowledge of how FIGHTs worked. Nate might have been able to do it, and Chara, along with possibly Frisk could probably have pulled it off with sheer experience and DETERMINATION, but Fin lacked that. As such, he had to rely on a monster to be able to defend himself from attack.

Of course, this had the downside of needing to have Sans close enough to keep the universe thinking that they actually could possibly be fighting. But in a choice between comfort and everyone's survival, survival came first. Especially since if Sans came back and one of the kids was dead, then Toriel would kill him. And then what would happen to Papyrus?

In the end, it was a good thing Fin had his SOUL out. In fact, it probably saved his life. It was the sound that gave away the fact that he was in danger, and he instinctively created a shield to protect himself.

The fireball hit the green barrier and dissipated harmlessly. The large man made of flames stopped when he saw that his target was unharmed. He threw more fireballs.

Sans had one HP. If he was hit, he would die. If Sans fled without Fin, he'd exit the battle system and no longer be able to protect himself with his shields. If they all left, Meramon was on a path straight to the village, where their friends were, and a group of small Digimon that were relatively harmless and, if Fin had to guess, highly flammable. There didn't seem to be a correct answer.

But he knew one thing. He couldn't abandon the little village to die. Candlemon seemed to sense what he was thinking.

"I'll protect you, Fin." At those words, Fin's strange blue device began to glow. Maybe this was the correct answer.

"Candlemon Digivolve to Meramon!" Fin's Meramon was smaller than the one attacking them, but he could actually feel safe behind his partner.

Several trees were already on fire, one or two more wouldn't make much difference. "Magma Blast!" These rocks the other Meramon punched away, but it gave Fin's Meramon the chance he needed to get behind the other's back.

"Fire Fist!" The attack knocked the other down, and a strange Black Gear flew out of his body. With the gear down, the opposing Meramon returned to his normal size.

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"Sans, where's Fin?"

"last i saw, his meramon returned to candlemon and he was talking to the other about returning the water to the village."

"Bring him back. Now."

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Daichi: What, you thought he was going to help? The only time Sans or Flowey will really be involved will be when there's no other choice.


	6. The Factory

Daichi: Alright, whoever took my things, give them back!

Verity: What's it matter?

Daichi: I will harm you.

Tsukaimon: There's a reason we don't own these things.

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The group had left the Pyocomon village as soon as the sun rose the next day and set out in a random direction. Frisk was slightly concerned about the heat, although they had refilled their water bottles.

The journey, however, was boring some of them as they searched for some way off of the island, especially as it was in the desert, so she decided to alleviate it.

"Say, did I ever tell you guys about how I got through Hotland?"

"No..."

"Well, I was on TV and everything! You see..."

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 _"Alphys, why are there two humans?"_

 _"There's only one..." Frisk glanced at Chara, who was currently standing right next to her._

 _"Can't he see I'm a spirit?" The demon child muttered._

 _"Well, I'll be honest, Chara, I'm just glad he won't be calling me crazy. Wait, isn't this live? Hi Sans! Hi Papyrus! Hi Undyne! Oh, hey, Mettaton, Blooky said to tell you 'hi' for them." Chara burst out into laughter. "...What?"_

 _"Frisk... I think you broke him."_

 _"No, he's standing right there."_

 _"As in, you broke his mind."_

 _"Let's get a second opinion. Alphys, do you think... I broke her, two, didn't I?" Chara sighed._

 _"I'll fix this." She went over to Mettaton and started waving her hand in front of him. "Hey, Mettaton... Underground to Mettaton... You in there?"_

 _"Yes..." He actually was being quiet. This was really different._

 _"You alright? You're not acting as obnoxious as usual." Never let it be said that Chara was capable of going a day without saying something insulting. She wasn't._

 _"Chara, be nice. Chara, stop poking him. Just because you can't actually physically affect him doesn't mean you can press all of his buttons." She was almost certain that, if Sans was watching this, he was laughing. "Chara!"_

 _Alphys managed to recover. "I-is this Chara you sp-speak of... a s-spirit of some kind?"_

 _"I... guess? She calls herself both that and a demon, so... Chara, do you even know what you are? And I said stop poking him! No matter how many times you try, you can't get through the body to the ghost inside, so stop trying."_

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 _"Would Frisk smooch a ghost? Really?" Chara fell over laughing. Frisk, despite knowing just how pointless this was, actually put thought into it._

 _"I guess it depends. Are you talking about yourself, Chara, Blooky, that one weird dummy that winged a knife at me..." Okay, maybe she was highly entertained by it... "Say, by the way, I should probably tell you that Bratty and Catty are selling copies of your house key. And you left your diary out in the open. You may want to take care of that."_

 _They were not bothered by Mettaton again for the rest of the day._

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The others stared at her. "Well, I figured someone should tell him. And all he really did was keep Bratty and Catty from selling more keys. Not to mention, it was already late in the day, so we didn't manage to get much of a break."

"Still... you managed to distract Mettaton."

Sans shrugged. "those kids are friskin amazing. they can do anything."

Frisk had many more stories she could have told, but she was interrupted by Sophia's gasp. "Guys, look over there!"

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Frisk never did like factories. They were loud and smelly and had so many parts that she just didn't understand the meaning of. So many things that could potentially be dangerous to her or others.

"What do you think they make here?" Sophia asked.

Nate shrugged. "I haven't seen many things here that suggest a manufacturing industry."

Charnette let out a laugh and ran through the gates. "Let's go, guys!" The instant they got through, however, the gates shut.

"Well, we aren't getting out that way." Sophia started to the door. "Well?"

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Toy had no idea how long he'd been there... or why he called himself Toy. No, he knew. It was because he knew he could Digivolve into a Machine Digimon someday. A ToyAgumon. First, however, he would have to get beyond the Baby Level.

How many lifetimes had he remained a Botamon? He'd lost count. Time constantly rewound itself around him, anyways, so it wasn't worth keeping track. Any number he remembered would invariably end up being incorrect. The gaps had recently grown smaller, however, and that was no small mercy to the little Digimon's sanity. It wasn't like he could tell anyone. Nobody was aware but him.

Either way, his life would always begin the same. Hatch in Primary Village, slip out when the caretaker wasn't watching, and travel here. Most Digimon used their species names. Toy was the exception.

The little corner of the factory had a small hole that he used to travel in and out to get some sunlight. The soft noises of the machinery would lull him to sleep at night. And the small, flashing lights were his favorite distraction. Simple pleasures for a Digimon with a long memory. A memory fragmented, and that would require a large amount of Machine based power to recover. Power he hadn't possessed in lifetimes, since before the gaps began to shrink.

It was rare to meet a Digimon incapable of Digivolving. Most just reached a level at which they were content with their power. Toy was not content. He wanted to see the world. His lifetimes were long, longer than most. He was an old Digimon, who knew exactly what was wrong with the island... and had no way to stop it. This most recent lifetime had only gone about a month if he was correct, but he had to do something.

21121212

Frisk had no idea when it had went so wrong. Somewhere along the way, she, Flowey, Fin, and Marcus had been separated from the others. They were in a room full of conveyor belts, which clanked and creaked and she was hyperventilating and-

"Frisk!" She blinked as she realized that Terriermon had slapped her. "Calm down."

"I don't like it either." Liollmon wrapped his tail around Marcus' legs. "Can we go now?"

"Liollmon, we need to keep going, or else we can never go home!" The little lion backed away from his partner. "I don't want to die here. I want to go home and see Undyne and Alphys and watch them almost burn the house down and then Fin comes over with Papyrus and teaches them how to make a proper meal and-" He cut himself off to breathe. "And it turns out really well and Sans teleports over with Charnette and we split the leftovers and Undyne takes me out back for target practice and if I hit everything I get candy and-"

"Marcus. It's going to be fine. We'll all get out of this alive. I promise." It was surprisingly easy to make promises. The power to rewind time does that. "Besides, what would Undyne say if she saw you like that?" LV twelve. Besides Chara, he was the most dangerous individual person to monsters in the world, using purely his own power. Yet he still had a sweet tooth and was prone to nervousness.

"Thanks, Frisk."

Candlemon stopped in front of a door. "Is that an Andromon?" There was a robot's mangled body caught between some gears.

Frisk had to do something, it just wasn't in her nature to leave an injured person lying there. "We should help him."

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Sans should have taken the kids and left. This factory held nothing for them that would help them leave the island. Once they left the island, and maybe found humans or monster someplace, they could go home.

He had done it again. He had called the town 'home'. Even with Frisk's promise, it could all go away-

No. Frisk wouldn't break a promise. Chara wouldn't either, although she still had her mean streak.

"Sans... Hey, Sans, you in there?" How long had Nate been kept waiting?

"huh? oh, im fine, kiddo." None of them pressed it.

"Um... hello?" A new voice, but not unfamiliar. "You... who are you?" It was a small ball of black fluff. Charnette squealed in delight.

"He's so cute!" The tiny Digimon hopped over to them.

"Thanks. Anyway, I'm Toy. Toy the Botamon. I-I've heard stories about creatures called humans and monsters, and I wanted to see them. I'd like to join you."

"how do we know we can trust you?" But the words didn't hold any sting. It wasn't like Chara, who'd slaughtered so many. If anything, he felt that he had to trust this little creature.

"You don't. But... but I can't stay here forever." He hadn't actually meant to lift the Botamon and stick him in his hoodie pocket. Really. He'd been trying to see if he could lift Renamon out of curiosity. Honest.

They would have said more, but that was when Frisk's group came running at them with a killer robot right behind them.

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Frisk made a mental note: Stop messing around with robots. Andromon's eyes were glowing red, like Chara's. Except Chara's eyes didn't have that eerie quality.

"This is bad, this is bad, this is really bad..."

"Do you think we could-?"

"Wait until we get to the open," Frisk cut off her partner. There weren't many options. Sans had gotten out as quickly as he could with Charnette and Renamon, so they were safe, but they couldn't risk destroying the building. Once they got out, however, they were able to go full blast. "Now!"

Her partner leaped off of her shoulder. "Terriermon Digivolve to Gargomon!"

The rabbit and the robot exchanged blows, but it was obvious Andromon had more strength.

Next to her, Sans had popped back in. A small black face peered out of his pocket.

"This isn't Andromon! He's being controlled by a being of darkness using a Black Gear!"

Marcus stepped up. "That's not right. We have to do something about it."

Liollmon stepped back. "Marcus, this could be dangerous."

"Well, it's not the first time I've risked my life for the greater good." If killing anything that entered the battle system could be considered good. "We have to do this Liollmon, or what will happen?"

"You're right. We have to be strong, don't we?" He asked himself. He was ready.

"Liollmon Digivolve to Leomon!" Leomon was a larger lion that stood on two legs and had a really big sword. Frisk felt that Undyne would go crazy if she saw him.

"Gargomon. We should work together." Gargomon nodded and the two combined attacks.

"Gargo Pellets!"

"Fist of the Beast King!" The two attacks knocked the gear free.

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"So, you're coming with us?" Frisk asked the Digimon that had warned them.

"Yeah. Call me Toy."

"Great!" The group, plus one more, started into the sewers... much to Flowey's chagrin.

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Daichi: I guess the most important part of this was introducing Toy. He will be important later.


	7. Battle of the Vending Machines

Daichi: Now, Toy will be an important member of the cast, but his origins won't be touched upon for a while. Some of you that know enough about both franchises may be able to guess where this is going beforehand, though.

Verity: She doesn't own these things.

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Frisk had no clue why they were walking through a sewer when they could have teleported. The grumblings besides her told her that the others were likely feeling much the same.

"I swear to God, Sans, if you didn't have one HP..." How did Sophia know that? The only reason Frisk knew was because of the time Chara had left them in her room and forgotten to mention that she'd just gotten a venus flytrap. That was on their list of most embarrassing reasons to LOAD ever. She supposed someone else must have mentioned it to her at one point or another.

"What's the problem?" Dorumon asked.

Terriermon shrugged. "Humans are weird." She would reprimand her partner, but Flowey got to her first.

"Like you're much better. All of your shape-shifting and Digivolution. What even are you supposed to be? Your name says you should be a dog but you look like a rabbit."

"Flowey, that is my partner you are talking about. Let me remind me whose head you're riding on."

"You don't scare me, Frisk."

"I could hand you over to Sans." Flowey shut up.

Marcus and Stan were talking about something with Nate up ahead. "You know, for someone who says he doesn't trust him, Sans hasn't taken Toy out of his pocket yet."

"Well, maybe he realizes how awesome Digimon are!"

"You know he's probably just to lazy to take him out."

Kotemon tripped into Gaomon, and they nearly fell into the water. It was only Sans' magic that kept them from getting wet. Frisk knew that Flowey would likely have something mean to say to that, and just leaned ever so slightly to the side.

"Frisk, stop that! Please don't drown the flower."

"Behave, then."

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After emerging from the sewers, they found a small area scattered with vending machines. Charnette ran down. "Food!"

"They aren't plugged in." Nate pointed out.

Sophia had gone down just as quickly and made a selection. Only instead of getting a nice refreshment, the front fell off and revealed a small slug-like Digimon. Dorumon winced.

"That's a Numemon. They aren't strong, but they reek."

"Hey! I take offense to that!" Behind them, Frisk sighed.

"I'll deal with this."

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After Frisk convinced the Numemon to leave them alone, she heard a noise. "What is that?"

One of the remaining Numemon cowered in fear. "It's Monzaemon! He normally takes care of a place called Toy Town, but he's recently started attacking everything. That's why we're here."

The group prepared for an encounter, but they did not expect their opponent to be a literal teddy bear.

"I almost feel bad," Sophia started, "but I never did care." Besides her, Stan charged right into battle. Monzaemon created a group of large, dark colored hearts and trapped him in one.

"This is bad," Toy cried, "Monzaemon's hearts are able to mess with your head!"

Marcus ducked behind one of the machines. "Than we can't get hit!"

Frisk grinned. This would be fun.

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It was not fun. Sans had bailed to negotiate with the Numemon for food, partly because they needed food, and partly because he couldn't be bothered to fight. Toy, being a Baby Digimon, stuck with him, as he couldn't do anything useful anyway.

Charnette had been caught almost immediately, and Fin and Marcus soon followed. Nate stood beside her, writing in his notebook as he avoided the hearts.

On her other side, however, Sophia was jumping and twirling, Dorumon and Terriermon following her lead. She was actually muttering something. Frisk moved closer to listen.

"I have not been having a good week. I'm covered in rashes from the weird plants I slept on, the creatures here are weird, and I'm almost certain to miss my next recital with all that is going on. I will not be beaten by a teddy bear!" Dorumon's ears perked up at hearing that, as if she'd been waiting for that moment.

"Dorumon Digivolve to Dorugamon!" She was larger, with noticeable claws. Dorugamon took to the sky, flying between the rapidly firing hearts.

Monzaemon sent out more hearts, which Terriermon blasted from a safe distance. One got through, and Frisk dropped to the ground right as it went over her head.

The hearts just kept coming, as though the large Digimon wouldn't be exhausted, unless... Monzaemon didn't even bother to move from the next attack, a green shield forming.

"Of course!" Nate exclaimed. "He's using his control over our friends to gain the powers of their SOULs!" This renewed Frisk's desire not to get caught. This also meant...

"Flowey, could you break those hearts?" She asked sweetly.

"What can I do? I'm a flower!"

"Friendliness Pellets?"

"No." Of course he wouldn't. He just didn't, couldn't care.

"Look, all you need to do is make it so Dorugamon can get a hit in. Would that be so hard?" Actually... come to that, she'd been in danger before, but never as much as the others. Maybe she was used to it so it didn't seem so bad, but... "Actually, never mind. Terriermon!" What had she done that first time? They'd been under attack and she didn't want to risk it, and she was so... of course!

"Terriermon Digivolve to Gargomon!"

"Gargomon, I need you to distract Monzaemon." Her partner nodded and ran to join Dorugamon.

"Gargo Pellets!" She wasn't even trying to hit, just move his attention. It worked, and the draconic beast overhead moved in.

"Cannon Ball!" Not quite enough, but he was stunned. Thirty seconds were all she needed. She got them. "Power Metal!" This next attack removed a Black Gear from the large bear's body.

12211221

Monzaemon apologized for his actions while under the gear's control, and with prodding from Toy, directed the children in the direction that it came from. They were going to the center of the island.

Infinity Mountain.

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Daichi: At this point, it should be obvious what Frisk's Crest is going to be. The others... not quite as obvious, but I had plenty to work with. Sans, Flowey, and Toy... will be relevant at about the same time as Myotismon for Sans and Toy, and the Dark Masters for Flowey.


	8. Dawn of the Samurai

Daichi: So, only two candidates left for Digivolving. This will determine who lives and who dies.

Verity: We all know it's going to be Nate. Devimon can only be beaten by the smallest after all, and I highly doubt... I almost said that, didn't I?

Tsukaimon: We don't own this, or we wouldn't actually have to keep that hidden.

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Frisk shivered and drew her arms closer to her body. On her head, Flowey was complaining loudly about the cold. Terriermon sat on her shoulder, her ears acting as a sort of scarf. Behind her, Renamon was carrying a sleeping Charnette, and Sans had lent his hoodie to Stan, as the boxer had originally frozen to death outside Snowdin as he ran from the Royal Guard, and as such was slightly paranoid about winter.

Nobody was really surprised, given the weather, that they came out in a field full of snow. Flowey whined louder. "Please turn back. You know I don't like the cold."

"You don't like anything." Sophia pointed out.

Frisk shrugged, being very careful not to jostle her head too much or let Terriermon fall. "If the Black Gears come from the mountain, than it may also hide a secret that will let us go back."

"You mean you want to leave us?"

"Come on, Terriermon, we wouldn't abandon you! You could come with us, my family would love you. Well, most of them, Flowey's still Flowey, but..."

"I refuse to be dragged into this." Frisk just smiled and led the others out onto the snowy plain.

211222112

The hot springs, despite being to hot to bathe in, were a lifesaver. It was getting late, and there was little available shelter. Besides that, anything that kept the group off of mountains was fine with them. The warmth soaked into the rocks as well, making sleeping outside a viable option as long as someone stood watch.

"Why is there a fridge here?" There was also food. Food was good. Opening it revealed it to be full of eggs.

"Okay, I can work with that," Fin started, "How do all of you like your eggs?"

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Frisk liked her eggs scrambled. The bowls were made of wood and probably full of splinters, but she was hungry enough not to care at this point. THey had been on the island for four days, and everything had not improved.

Terriermon was chowing down on her meal, while across the table, Renamon and Kotemon were eating in a more polite manner. Fin seemed happy that his efforts were being rewarded with happy people. Nate had his notebook opened, and seemed to be making observations on the eating habits of the Digimon.

"I'm interested in what's up that mountain," He stated.

"Isn't that how you fell into the underground?"

"I highly doubt that there will be any huge pits or anything to fall into."

"Fair enough, but let's at least wait until morning. Climbing in the dark doesn't appeal to me."

12211221

It was Nate's turn to keep watch. He sat on the rocks, as everyone else slept around him in the heat of the springs. Kotemon was stretched out nearby. All was at peace, everything was fine. He had allowed himself to think that all was going to go well. One would think that someone who spent all of his time writing down theories and observations in an old torn notebook would realize that thinking that will always lead to trouble.

A cry of pain sounded up the mountain. That served as the first warning. The second was the energy blasts that flew right over their heads and destroyed the snowy field behind them. The others were stirring. But they couldn't do anything about the winged unicorn that landed right in front of him.

Kotemon looked up. "It's a Unimon! Those are supposed to be rare!"

"It seems to be in pain from the Black Gear." At that range, Sans could easily have removed it, but Nate knew he wouldn't be much help. They'd have to do this themselves.

An energy blast cut off about half of his HP. Using that moment to get away, he pulled together his willpower. Not quite the same as Frisk, but with power deep within.

"Kotemon Digivolve to Shurimon!"

12211212

Frisk looked at Nate's Digimon. Besides her, Marcus groaned.

"You're kidding me, right? I'm training under the head of the Royal Guard, and I get a lion. Nate's a nerd, and he gets a way cooler ninja!?"

"Actually, I think that's a samurai."

"Is there much difference?"

"You can ask Nate later." What was he asking her for? She didn't know much about them other than that they were Asian warriors, and she didn't care to learn any more about them. She hated fighting, and likely always would. It was just too easy to remember reaching out, hands covered in dust... She couldn't think about that. It wasn't the time or the place.

Unimon fired another blast at Shurimon, but the other Digimon simply disappeared in a flurry of leaves, only to reappear right behind him.

"Double Stars!" He tied up Unimon before throwing him down. This left the gear undefended. "Kusanagi!"

Instead of sticking around after the gear was smashed, Unimon simply flew off again. "Well, they never are much for company," Liollmon remarked.

Shurimon looked up the mountain. "It is nearly daylight, and I sense danger up that mountain. Perhaps I should remain in this form for the time being."

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They knew it was an island. They'd been told it several times. Seeing the wide ocean before their eyes confirmed it, though. No other landmass in sight. Just them, and an island that they knew to be hosting a great danger. But they could do this. They didn't know how they got there, or why, but they could survive. They would all get back alive. Frisk was sure of it.

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Verity: Amazing just what the power to control time can do for your confidence.


	9. The Mansion

Daichi: Everyone has some sort of ability, like Fin's shields. We may see some of them in near future, we may not.

Verity: If we owned this, we'd know exactly how it will go. As it is, we're just playing it by ear.

212121

Frisk did not know why they were just continuing to climb the mountain. She just kept moving ahead with the rest of them, trying to think. Nate and Shurimon were in the lead, because they were already Digivolved. This ended up being a good idea when the Leomon leaped down from the mountainside.

"Aren't those supposed to be friendly?"

From his spot in Sans' pocket, Toy shuddered. "I can sense several Black Gears on him. It's made him hostile, and stronger. We need to get out of here!"

As they ran down the slope, however, a green creature walked up.

Liollmon backed up a little. "That's an Ogremon. His kind and mine are mortal enemies. I'd rather take my chances with the other Leomon."

There was only one real option. Frisk hated all of the fighting she'd had to do, but there wasn't a choice. These weren't like the monsters, who only attacked out of a sense of obligation and only had to be talked out of killing her. These Digimon were actually out for their blood. There was only one option.

"Terriermon Digivolve to Gargomon!"

"Dorumon Digivolve to Dorugamon!"

"Liollmon Digivolve to Leomon!"

"Candlemon Digivolve to Meramon!"

"Gaomon Digivolve to Gaogamon!"

Meramon and Dorugamon went to back up Shurimon, while Gargomon, Gaogamon, and Leomon turned to Ogremon. Apparently Leomon's natural rivalry with Ogremon overrode any personal reasoning.

Ogremon's reaction to Marcus' Leomon was priceless. "There are two of them now?"

Sans and Charnette, in the midst of the chaos, were taking shelter behind a rock. The battle was not very exciting, as the land was unstable and too much action could cause them to fall. So they weren't certain whether to be happy about the landslide or not.

Frisk decided just to take it. If it came down to it, she preferred survival, even though they most definitely could not go back the way they came. Then again, it seemed they never could.

211212

When they saw the mansion, the first thing Frisk noticed was that Sophia hesitated before going inside. She decided it didn't matter, and that she could LOAD if it did. The fact that the only thing in the entire entranceway was an angel painting should have been her second clue, but she'd ignored it. She'd long grown tired of angels and the symbolism behind them. She could have been an angel. Asriel and Chara just got there first.

The dining hall filled with food appealed to her, and most of the others dug in. Sophia wouldn't touch it, giving her food to Dorumon and Gaomon. "Sophia, you need to eat, too."

"I'm not hungry." Frisk knew that was a lie. None of them had eaten anything that day, and outside the large house, the sun was going down. She didn't bring it up, though. The others knew what they needed more than she did. Besides, it was more for her.

122121

After dinner, they decided to bathe in some hot springs. Sophia said she didn't want to, so Frisk put her in charge of watching Flowey. When he asked why he couldn't come in, Frisk pointed out that he was a flower, he needed water, not a bath, and she didn't trust him. When he asked why she didn't trust him, she pointed out the fact that he was a murderous little buttercup.

After bathing, the group went into a large bedroom, where they all had beds that they ended up sharing with the Digimon because there simply wasn't enough space, with Flowey in his pot in Frisk's backpack at the end of her bed, where she curled up with Terriermon so he could have space. She drifted off rather quickly after that.

211221

Frisk had hoped to wake up the next morning, find breakfast, and lead the others on another adventure while they awaited rescue. Being woken up by the bed levitating around wouldn't normally be such a big deal, except that Sans was still asleep. She was tempted to throw her pillow at him, but she may have needed it later.

The demonic Digimon that was holding everyone above the ground laughed. "I'll spread you all out, and kill you one by one!" She SAVEd. She wouldn't do that again until she was certain that they were all safe. And that wouldn't be for days.

Terriermon was pressed to Frisk's side, whimpering. "Devimon practically invented the nightmare! He's the most evil Digimon on the island and everyone's scared of him."

Frisk, however, wasn't really scared. Sure, Devimon was dangerous, and given what she knew, possibly pure evil, but even if she couldn't SAVE him, she could still stop him. Not yet, but she was DETERMINED. She would do this.

The island split beneath them, all of the children and Sans heading in several directions. Frisk hugged her partner close as they sped away. She didn't call out for the others. At least, if worst came to worst, she had Flowey. She'd survive the island, and ensure everybody else did, too.

After all, she had all the time in the world.

12211212

In a ruins not far from where Frisk would eventually land, a centaur stood at the entrance. One of the First Ones had returned to the world, and new DigiDestined had been chosen. Both very good reasons to wait for them. Especially as he was one of very few to know of the First Ones and what they had done for the Digimon. Hope, Courage, Reliability, Sincerity, Light. Long forgotten, but he knew.

He didn't know who these children were, or even who the First Ones were, which was all that saved him. The Gears approached, but the ruins themselves would repel them. Had he known, he would have approached them and risked being taken. And that couldn't happen. Not if the old Digital World was to be remembered, or the ones who first saved it.

212121

Daichi: Again, this is something that is entirely possible to guess at this point.


	10. World of Ice

Daichi: Everyone is split up over the same areas, just with a bit more diversity.

Verity: We don't own anything.

122121

Marcus hit the ground hard, Liollmon right behind him. A bit of snow got into his shirt, and he looked up to discover that he was surrounded by glaciers, and it was snowing. Great.

"Marcus, where are we?"

"Well, it looks like Snowdin, only less friendly, and more likely to viciously murder us." His yellow SOUL appeared, showing that he was down by ten HP. That fall must have taken more out of him than he had expected.

Rubbing his hands together, he stood up, making certain that Liollmon was all right. Picking up the bedsheet and wrapping the dry part around himself to keep out the wind, he started walking.

1221212

He had no clue why there were frozen mailboxes. He didn't even wonder why it was mailboxes. Marcus was thoroughly beyond caring. All he wanted was to be out of the wind and snow. That was it. He asked for so little.

Liollmon was shuddering violently with the cold. and Marcus was worried for the little Digimon. It wasn't right for something with such a light coat of fur to be out in the frozen cold like this. It wasn't like he could do much about it, though. They were kind of lost.

Footsteps. He couldn't make out the shape in the storm, but he recognized enough to start running. The bedsheet was dragging him down, and he let it go. Liollmon was right behind him.

"Marcus, can't we fight it?"

"We don't even know what it is, and I can't see a thing in this weather! How do you expect to fight?" Displaced air pushed between the two of them, leaving only more cold. The Digimon was getting closer. More than that, there was a large cliff just ahead. They were boxed in.

The storm had abated slightly now, and Marcus could see the attacker more clearly. A large snowman, with a Black Gear. As if understanding what he was about to say, Liollmon darted off, going onto the offensive.

"Critical Bite!" His jaws snapped shut around the Gear, breaking it into little pieces. The snowman shook his head, as if to clear it.

"Now, what just happened?"

211221

Stan was cold. He didn't like the cold. Wrapping his scarf tighter around himself, he and Gaomon were huddled in a cave, out of the wind. His bedsheet was laid out in the corner to dry, so that he could have a bit more heat.

"Stan, are you all right?" Gaomon asked. Stan shook his head.

"It's cold, and in case you hadn't noticed, it just started storming." Indeed, a storm had blown over from the east, making it much less comfortable inside the little cave. Still, as long as he didn't freeze to death again, that would be fine. It had taken a while to find the cave, so there wouldn't be much more time to sleep. All he needed was to wait for the bedsheet to dry, and then he could rest.

21212

Morning. Cold, but workable. Stan had had to rely on Gaomon for heat, and it was still freezing out. He nearly lost hope.

"Frisk, Sophia, Fin! Is anybody there?"

"Marcus!" The other boy and his little lion were standing in a nearby clearing.

"Stan, you're here!" He laughed. "I mean, Frigimon told me he saw a human fall, but I couldn't really believe it." He'd noticed the large Digimon, just chose to ignore him.

"Right, so, do you know a way back to the island?"

"If I did, I'd be gone."

Liollmon sniffed the air. "I think I smell another Digimon, heading this way!" Stan prepared himself for a hostile encounter.

It wasn't necessary. The yeti-like Digimon walked out of the forest, and called out to them.

"Hello, humans!"

12212121

 _A small blue reptile looked at one that was just like him, but black, and another that looked similar, but made of blocks. "Blacky, Toy, do we really have to say goodbye here? Whether we keep our memories or not, we're still friends, right?"_

 _The black one shook his head. "Snowflake, we can't stay together. Holding onto these memories is too painful now. We'll never see them again, we should just let ourselves forget it like everybody else, and forgetting each other is the best way."_

 _"I'm sure we'll see each other again someday," Toy added. "Maybe even sooner than you think? I might not be able to Digivolve to Champion again, but you don't need time powers to know that. I mean, as long as they live, we can live. After what I did... we've got lifetimes to meet again. Until then... I guess this is farewell."_

1212121

"Who are you?" Marcus asked. "How do you know we're humans?"

"I'm Snowflake the Mojyamon. I'm not sure how I knew you two were human, there's a lot of things that I'm not sure about. I felt the island was changing, so I decided to put a stop to it if possible. I probably should have done something sooner."

"You think?" Gaomon commented sarcastically. Stan made no move to reprimand his partner, instead silently agreeing. Snowflake seemed to ignore it, and that was probably for the best.

"I may not be able to do anything, but you could fix the island yourselves, if you Digivolved."

"But how do we do that?" Liollmon asked. "We've only ever done it before when our partners were in danger."

"I think... that all those who come here have a trait that they excel at more than anybody else. For humans, it should be the color of their SOULs. Maybe you can use that."

The color of their SOULs... His was orange, for bravery. Marcus' was yellow, for his sense of justice. He had asked Frisk once what her and Chara's red SOULs stood for. She hadn't answered.

To face Devimon, possibly on their own, great bravery was needed. Fortunately, that was the most he had. His odd device began to glow.

"Stanley, I think, if I had food, I could Digivolve," Gaomon stated.

They would return to the main mountain using Gaogamon's power. And there, they would face Devimon. Stan was brave enough to face it.

12121122

Daichi: Snowflake is going to be important, even if he possible never appears again. That flashback should explain his significance to the story well enough.


	11. Ghost Woods

Daichi: I'm pairing the kids up in a specific way: They are exactly where they need to be at any given time.

Verity: We don't own this, we don't even plan ahead.

12211212

The Bakemon had been told that humans would come to their temple in search of help. The plan was for them to lure them in, and then kill them. There were plans in place for if they weren't powerful enough, which would do nothing to ones like them.

The plan was perfect. For several days before the island split apart, it was all that they would talk about. They just couldn't wait for their chance.

But nobody came.

122121

Everyone had laughed when Fin stated he was taking a frying pan to summer camp. Now, however, with fresh fish cooking over an open campfire, he could safely say that nobody was laughing anymore. Nate and Kotemon sat on the other side of the fire, Candlemon handling finding more food.

"Do you think we can find our way back to the main island?" He asked.

Nate shook his head. "Neither Meramon or Shurimon can carry us across the ocean, and with this island's constant movements, we'd be more likely to hit the mainland. If we hit land at all. If we camp out here, we can at least survive until either Devimon or our friends find us." Nate was certainly the smartest of the group, so if he advised that they stay, they would stay.

After all, they didn't have anything better to do.

1212122112

If the humans wouldn't show up, than the Bakemon would take the battle to them, they decided. They would need strength, however, they also knew where to find it. Black Gears had the ability to grant power to Dark and Virus Digimon. That was actually their foremost ability, although they had long been tweaked for use in different manners.

Nobody knew who created the Gears, just that they only existed on the island, and could only be removed by either destruction or the will of the creator. And if nobody knew who the creator was, it would be impossible to remove Gears transplanted deep within the Digimon host body. The island was covered in Gears, so what would a few missing ones do?

Well, for one thing, start moving the island in the other direction, but in the small minds of the Bakemon, they could win before hitting the main island again. It should be noted at this point that not all Bakemon are this dumb. This set was just unusually stupid.

Certain at this point of their new power, they set off to attack the children.

12212121

Fin leaned back, comfortably full. They had found enough food for a real feast, and it didn't look to be running out anytime soon. There was no real reason for them to leave that stretch of beach.

Nate sat up suddenly, followed by Kotemon. "I think I heard something."

Candlemon turned around. "I heard it, too! It came from this direction!" Fin heard it, now. It wasn't rustling in the bushes, or anything else simple to notice. If anything, it was heavy breathing, and really quiet cackling. Nothing too unusual or threatening, if it had been Newer Home.

However, this wasn't Newer Home. This was a small fragment of an island drifting about in the middle of an unknown sea. And this wasn't the kind of place one would expect to hear cackling. It was kind of dark, but still rather pleasant, at least in that part of the forest. Still, this could be problematic.

The first enemy to emerge looked like a child's Halloween costume. He wasn't going to call it and it's friends ghosts, that would be an insult to the ghosts he knew. And nobody wanted to offend those ghosts. Mainly because they didn't want to get stabbed. Self-preservation was kind of a big deal.

Besides them, their Digimon were prepared for battle.

"Candlemon Digivolve to Meramon!"

"Kotemon Digivolve to Shurimon!"

Both Digimon fired their attacks, taking out a number of them. The other Bakemon seemed to notice, and quickly reevaluated their plans.

Coming closer together, the numerous Digimon melded together, into a much larger specimen of their species. Pulling itself up, it breathed out a rather large amount of an unknown gas. Fin breathed it in and immediately started coughing. Nate was doing much the same, and the odd gas had extinguished their fire. He didn't know what to do. They were stuck.

21212112

"Magma Blast!" It was surprising how fast something as large as the Bakemon could move. The attack flew harmlessly into the woods, where it would then start several small fires, none of which would cause much damage to anything.

"Kusanagi!" One hit the Bakemon, another hit a tree. Seizing it's chance, the Bakemon lunged at the children. Fin grabbed for the nearest object and held it in front of himself. The Bakemon never made contact.

The device in Fin's hand was glowing, and the Bakemon shrank away from the bright light. The device shone brighter, and the Bakemon cried out in pain.

"It appears to be weakening it." Nate observed.

Fin took that chance. "Now, Meramon!"

"Magma Blast!"

The risk paid off, and the Bakemon dissipated into little particles.

21121212

Fin and Nate had survived their ordeal, and realized that the island's movements had reversed. Nate took note of that, and they started preparations. Because soon, they would have to face Devimon again, and this time, it would be to the death.

121221

Daichi: The next part is one that I've really been looking forward to doing. It follows Frisk and Flowey as they learn exactly what has befallen the island, and just how much the world needs them to survive. Some of the others are there, too. It also mentions the things I hinted at earlier.


	12. A Legend

Daichi: Again, I've been looking forward to this one for quite some time.

Verity: Trust me, she doesn't own any of this.

122112

Frisk hit the ground hard. Picking herself up, the first thing she did was make sure that none of her belongings were too badly damaged. Nothing was destroyed, but Flowey's pot had a few cracks in it. Nothing that was too bad.

Next to her, Terriermon sat up, shaking her head. "Frisk? What happened...?" Had she seriously slept through all of that?

"Well, basically, the island split apart, and we all got separated." From his pot, Flowey mumbled something. "What was that, Flowey?"

"Nothing."

Placing Flowey on her head and her bag on her back, she set off, followed closely by her loyal partner.

121212

"Frisk, I've been wondering something."

"What is it, Terriermon?"

"You keep talking about your home and family. What are they like?"

"Idiots."

"Flowey!" She sighed. "I'm not actually sure where to start with that."

"How about where you live?"

"Well... it's called Newer Home... please don't laugh. My dad is terrible with names, and if Flowey is anything to go by, it seems to be genetic. It's small, but still manages to hold almost. the entire monster population. Humans are technically free to live there, just none of them want to. Except for us. Mainly because many of us dropped off of the 'missing person' posters after thirty years or so... don't ask."

"I wasn't going to."

"Basically, the authorities reactions to finding out that all of us were alive, and still kids, was to tell the monsters they could keep us. I still don't know why. It's not that weird, is it?"

"Kinda."

Flowey laughed. "When the Digimon says that, you know you messed up somewhere."

"Flowey, not helping."

12121212

Shelter. That was their first priority. She didn't know if Sans would be able to find them, but if she could at least find a place to stay, that would help a lot. It wasn't just for her. Terriermon needed a meal and some sleep, roughly in that order, and given that they were back in the jungle, she was certain that something there ate flowers.

Nearly tripping over a tree root, she glanced to the side, and noticed some ruins. Frisk understood that, with how old they were, there would probably be traps, at least puzzles, but the entrance should be safe.

Walking in, she looked around. The walls were covered in strange markings, some sort of writing, maybe? It wasn't anything she'd seen before. She was certain that Nate would have a field day studying them.

It was still late at night, so she set her bag down, curled up in the corner, and fell asleep.

121221

She woke up to the sound of voices. Sophia was there, speaking with Terriermon and Dorumon. She wondered when the other girl and her partner had gotten there. She didn't seem tired, so it must have been sometime during the night. More importantly, she noticed that they were eating some sort of fruit that almost resembled a banana.

Moving over to where they were sitting, Frisk grabbed a piece of fruit and bit into it. It had a distinct taste, like Monster Candy. She highly doubted that this was what the candy's flavor was based off of, but it tasted almost exactly the same.

"What I don't understand," Sophia started, "is where this came from. I've seen the trees that grow these, and they're so high up you'd need to be at least a Champion to reach most of them."

"Who cares?" Dorumon asked. "It's food!" Terriermon nodded in agreement. Frisk made a mental note to explain to her partner just why she wasn't comfortable with eating strange plants without proof that they weren't poisonous or something. It was also an explanation she didn't want to give, if only because not many people knew that Chara had decided that the best way to break the barrier was suicide by buttercups.

It was one of those things that was only told to those who needed to know, for good reason. Many had reasons to doubt the older Dreemurr's sanity, and they weren't entirely wrong.

The sound of hooves on stone pulled her out of her thoughts. Sophia tensed, and turning, she saw the one whose feet made the sound. There was no Black Gear, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try anything.

"Hello, DigiDestined," he greeted. "I am Centarumon."

"Digi-what?" Flowey asked. The large Digimon sighed.

"Follow me."

121212

Left, right, take the middle... Frisk wasn't certain quite how long they were in the labyrinth before they reached the central chamber. Once they arrived, however, she could see why such a maze was there.

For one thing, it was huge, and the walls were covered in markings. However, these were different from the markings at the entrance. It wasn't something she could say for sure, but it just felt like it.

One of the markings, the one right above an altar, looked rather familiar. She fished her device out of her pocket. It was a perfect match. "I've been wondering. Just what is this, Centarumon?"

"That is a Digivice, the carrier of light, and the symbol of the DigiDestined."

Sophia crossed her arms. "You keep using that word, but we have absolutely no idea what it means."

"Right. Basically, in times of danger, the world chooses guardians to save it. Mostly children, as they don't often have preexisting prejudices to work around." Frisk considered pointing out how horrible of an idea that was, but realizing that she didn't really have room to talk, decided against it.

"It sounds like you know a lot about this. Has it happened before or something?"

"Once, a long time ago, for us Digimon, at least. One of them had special powers, and used them to separate time here from time anywhere else, so that they wouldn't need to explain things. We haven't been able to contact them since, considering..."

"Considering what?"

"To avoid certain consequences, the first group chose to have their memories wiped, along with those who knew them well. There were five of them. All we know anymore is that they're still alive, at least according to our sources, and that recently, one of them has returned. I don't know who, however." It occurred to her that the other kids should have been there as well. If it was their duty to save this world, then they had to know how.

She also wondered which of the first group had returned, and why. More than that, she wondered who their partners had been. Maybe they could help. "Centarumon, our friends were scattered when the island broke. Is there any way to find them?"

"The Digivices should have a function for that. And if you're hoping to return to the mountain, I know some Coelamon who would be willing to help." That was it, then. She and Sophia would go to the mountain and fight Devimon. After that, whatever happened, she knew she could count on this new ally. And maybe, she might learn about those who came before, as well. Because if she didn't know, than she might make avoidable mistakes. And while she could undo them, others wouldn't have that luxury.

She had made a promise, once, to do what was best for everyone. It had been as simple as allowing them to stay on the surface back then. Now, it would be harder. Not that that had ever stopped her. She was willing to do anything to keep herself and her friends safe.

Even if it meant a sacrifice.

211212

Daichi: Some mistakes made by the original cast will be made, others will not. Just because Frisk has time powers, that can't fix everything. The consequences for that are going to be brutal.


	13. Charnette's Adventure

Daichi: Only this left before I have to tackle Infinity Mountain again... which will be mostly failed timelines of the universe conspiring against the human characters.

Verity: The sad thing is that, even if she did own this stuff, she wouldn't know what to do with it.

21211212

The bed carrying Charnette didn't get very far before it landed. She supposed she should be thankful for this, if only because it meant that she wouldn't get even more lost. Still, she felt she'd be fine so long as she had Renamon with her. The unusually tall Rookie might be stern and a little aloof, but they were still partners.

Not that she knew what it meant. She thought that it might be something that would keep them from separating, to keep them together forever. Or maybe, given the Digivolutions that tended to happen around them, it might be something magical. She always had been fascinated by magic, and wished that her life could be like a fairy tale.

She wasn't as worried as she knew the others must have been. She was still small, and didn't often understand what the older kids said. But she knew she'd be safe for the time being, and dozed off, Renamon keeping watch for a while, before following her into dreamland.

121212

The next morning saw a little girl curled up against a bipedal yellow fox. Blinking awake, Charnette shifted away from Renamon. Sometime during the night, Sans and Toy had shown up. She was curious, but knew that asking wouldn't get her anywhere.

Her main concern at the moment was that she was hungry. However, she was also the only one awake, and she knew enough about the strange land she had found herself in not to wander off alone. It was still early, so she settled in for a long wait.

12212121

Once Renamon had gotten up, and Sans had managed to wake up, the group set off in a random direction... probably not the best idea. But if they could find allies, that would help. Otherwise, the only Digimon backup would be two low leveled ones unable to Digivolve, one of which was a Botamon. Maybe not the ideal fighting force they were going for.

To be honest, it was less moving on and more wandering randomly. Renamon took the lead due to being possibly the most qualified to do so at the moment. Charnette was right behind her, sticking as close to her partner as humanly possible. Around her Digimon, she felt safe. As long as she had Renamon, nothing bad could possibly happen to her.

12121212

Eventually, they found themselves staring at a large amount of giant toy blocks. Charnette took one glance at them before running in. She tripped, and made the incredible discovery that the ground was bouncy. She proceeded to leap her way through, her companions following at a more moderate pace.

 _'Be careful. Don't go too far.'_ She had no clue why Renamon's voice sometimes sounded in her head.

 _'Don't worry. I won't.'_ Or how easily she could respond. It was just something she could do. It was a small thing, but it helped.

In fact, the way she considered it, everything was just fine. Sure, dying young sucked, but that had allowed her to meet Renamon. She finally had people who cared about her. That was worth everything that had happened so far. In fact, things were finally looking up for her. She could finally be happy.

21211221

A field full of eggs was not the strangest thing Charnette had seen recently. Besides the eggs, there was a large number of cradles. "What are these?"

Renamon walked up to her, standing right by her side. "These are Digi-Eggs. They will eventually had into Baby level Digimon."

"Like Toy?"

"Yes, like Botamon." Being able to communicate without words was nice, but it was just as nice to speak out loud. It felt more real.

From his spot in Sans' pocket, Toy spoke up. "I know this place. This is Primary Village. Most Digimon are born in places like this. I actually hatched here."

Charnette moved to look into one of the cradles. In it was a creature that looked like Toy, but white. "What is this?"

"That, I believe, is a YukimiBotamon. They most often Digivolve into Holy Digimon like Plotmon, although they have been known to become species like Leomon, albeit not through the Liollmon stage." Upon hearing the name of the little Digimon, however, Charnette pushed the rest of the information to the back of her mind so she could better focus on just how adorable the tiny creature was.

This process would repeat with the rest of the baby Digimon species in the village.

21122112

The arrival of the Elecmon that served as the caretaker of Primary Village went less than smoothly. Seeing as they were a group of strangers in a place that basically served the purpose of ensuring young Digimon could survive until they Digivolved into forms capable of defending themselves,this was no surprise.

Charnette missed Frisk. The older girl was rather good at turning enemies to her side, to hear her put it. And Charnette didn't doubt that, having seen the princess in action several times before. Each time ended with nobody suffering lasting injuries, and nobody had yet challenged her to a rematch, as far as the young child knew.

The biggest problem she had was that when she was scared, her body would lock up. The incoming electric attack nearly hit her, and she was only saved by Renamon picking her up and moving her to safety.

"Elecmon," Renamon stated coldly. "Can't you see my partner is a child? If we were to compare her to ourselves, she would be In-Training at most. And our other companions... pose even less of a threat." At this point, one should be reminded that Renamon had, at this point, had minimal interaction with Sans. In fact, given her disposition and his... apathy, it was doubtful if they had even spoken before this point.

Of course, Charnette didn't understand the full extent of his power either, helped along by the fact that he never used it. So she agreed with her Digimon's statement.

Elecmon, likely realizing that the larger Rookie was someone he did not want mad, quickly backed down and offered to let them stay for a while. They were more than willing to take him up on his offer. After all, it was better than wandering around aimlessly.

In reality, Charnette would have been fine with anything as long as she wasn't separated from her partner. She almost felt as if, with Renamon by her side, she could do anything.

1221121

BlackGatomon: Such a sweet little girl... I almost feel bad about what's going to happen to her next.


	14. Sacrifice

Daichi: The universe is conspiring against these kids.

Vee-Vee: She doesn't own anything

1221121

Over the course of several days, the DigiDestined had finally found each other. Relieved, Frisk SAVED. This turned out to be a good idea. Several times. She also told them about why they were there, leaving out the fact that others had come before them. Sophia wanted to say something, but she convinced her that that was not the point.

Geared up, with the worst of it seemingly behind them, they traveled to Infinity Mountain.

12121212

Devimon hadn't always been that big, had he? In hindsight, maybe having their SOULs available for use would have been a good idea. Devimon seemed to have absorbed both Ogremon and the strange Leomon, although that would be easier to deal with. Devimon's hand came down and ripped the ground right out from under Sophia, where she fell like a rock.

LOAD.

12122112

She had Sophia right by her side this time. In fact, they were all clustered together, maybe not the best idea. The forced landslide fell on all of them.

LOAD.

122112

They didn't even get out of Primary Village when a random meteor struck.

"Really?" Frisk groaned.

LOAD.

121212

Try fifty-three. Sans was now willing to help, occasionally. That was what led to this. Flowey still was unwilling to help, Frisk figured he found her suffering entertaining.

Sans was good at dodging and could teleport. He was probably the most dangerous monster she knew. But even he could fail.

"No!" It wasn't her who cried out or Charnette, or any of the humans, actually.

It was Toy.

LOAD.

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That last timeline... had been different. This would be Frisk's fifty-fourth attempt at defeating Devimon. Maybe she was going about this the wrong way. So, to be entirely certain, she decided to meet with Sans and Flowey in private.

She didn't know why Toy was there. So she asked.

"I... um..." Toy shrunk behind Sans. At that moment, Frisk recalled something. Centarumon had told her and Sophia. There had been DigiDestined before this group. For some unknown reason, this group had to have their memories wiped. One of the Digimon had time powers.

And a member of the first group had recently returned. She had shrugged that piece of information off, when she first heard it, but...

"Toy..." She had to know. It made too much sense. "Do you know your Digivolution path, by any chance?"

He nodded, as much as it was possible for a being that was all head to nod. "Botamon, Koromon, ToyAgumon, Clockmon... I know there's something beyond that, but I can't quite remember..."

"That... makes so much sense." Of course he couldn't Digivolve! It was easier for her to Digivolve Terriermon if she kept herself together. If she broke down completely, she doubted her partner could Digivolve at all. And she had a Digivice to help her.

No wonder Toy couldn't Digivolve, if his partner didn't have his Digivice and was horribly depressed.

"What does?" He seemed to actually be clueless. Sure, she could possibly be wrong, but...

"You have time powers." It wasn't a question.

"As a Clockmon, and I could even share some of the basics, but I can't even become Koromon anymore. I don't know why..." It made way too much sense. She supposed the only thing keeping her from realizing it sooner was the fact that it was easy to overlook the little puffball.

"What do you mean, you could share them?"

"Well, I could mess with time, and when I did, I could have people remember that I did so, and what happened before."

"Could you change time relative to a specific area?"

"I think so... I might have done it before, but I just can't remember!" That was it. She was right. She wasn't sure what to say about that, though. What a friend did during a time nobody could clearly remember was not a topic that generally came up in normal conversation.

"Thanks... This will be the time we defeat Devimon. I'm sure of it." It occurred to her that Flowey and Sans hadn't actually added much to the conversation.

"If... if the only casualties are Digimon, it'll be fine. We just come back as Digi-Eggs." She nodded. That would make things easier.

"About what we were going to talk about... never mind. I have an idea."

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Gargomon and Gaogamon attacked Devimon from one side. Shurimon, Leomon, and Meramon attacked from the other. Dorugamon was in charge of aerial assault while Sans occasionally threw a bit of magic around.

Her plan was to figure out how to trigger Renamon's Digivolution. Charnette was right beside her, but thrusting her into danger was on her list of worst plans possible. Flowey, from his spot on her head, made sarcastic remarks.

"Honestly, how do you expect us to believe you have a plan if you won't tell us?" What was Charnette's main trait again? The answer came to her immediately. Patience. But how could she exploit that? If anything, it would be a hindrance to Digivolution.

She needn't have worried. Devimon turned to them and lashed out. Renamon moved quickly to get them out of the way, but she wouldn't be fast enough.

"Renamon Digivolve to Kyubimon!"

With now eight Champion Digimon, they could go onto the offensive.

"Everyone, split up and attack from different angles," Frisk ordered. They did so, and Kyubimon started moving to the top of the mountain. Next to her, Charnette's eyes lost focus for a moment, before crying out in the direction of the mountaintop.

"No! You can't!" She was going to ask what the younger girl meant. The others were doing decent damage, and mostly managing to avoid getting struck. Ogremon and the other Leomon, while she'd like to help them, just didn't seem to be possible.

It was when Kyubimon leaped off of the mountain, already forming a Dragon Wheel, that she realized what was happening.

Digimon could be reborn if they died. Charnette didn't know that.

The fox Digimon tore right through the middle of Devimon's body and hit the ground hard. Too hard.

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Charnette simply stared at the Digi-Egg containing her partner. She didn't respond to anything anybody tried. It was like what just happened had simply... broken her.

Still, Devimon was gone. And that was an improvement. Frisk had promised to do whatever it took to keep people happy... but this had been the best run yet, the only one that allowed them to defeat Devimon.

She just hoped, if the truth came out about her powers, that Charnette could find it in her heart to forgive her.

SAVE.

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Daichi: You know how those that climb Mt. Ebott don't do it for happy reasons? This is the result.


	15. In the Mind of a Demon

Daichi: Some people just can't be pleased... so I don't bother. And now, a break to look into the mind of the local demon child and see just what she's been doing.

Verity: This is precisely why she isn't allowed to own anything.

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Greetings. I am Chara. My full name? Chara Cter Dreemurr. Yes, my birth parents were assholes, how could you tell? I'm just glad that after that space got put on my birth certificate, they didn't care enough to change it. Even if nobody knows how to pronounce it.

To be fair, not even I'm sure how it's pronounced. I just picked one and stuck with it.

What, you want to know about Frisk? Sorry, you're stuck with me for now, Frisk is at camp. Don't worry, I don't hurt people... much.

Actually, I was meant to go to camp as well, but it turns out being ill makes things not fun. I probably should have realized that sooner, to be honest. Would have saved me a lot of pain and suffering, that's for sure.

How bad is it, you ask? Well, I'm running a fever, feeling nauseous, and may or may not be slightly delirious. I'm not hallucinating, right? Hard to tell at times.

...I hate my life.

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Mom has to go do something, so she asked for a babysitter. I don't need a babysitter.

Especially not Papyrus.

Now, remember Chara, no stabbing. No stabbing. I wish I could stab something. Why did Frisk have to hide the knives? To be honest, I can kind of understand why she did it. Back to my rant.

I have no clue why Mom thought Papyrus would be a good babysitter. Maybe she just assumed we'd do some puzzles or something, but I don't like puzzles. Except for word searches, but it's hard to get a good word search around here. Half of the words end up being misspelled, for one.

I don't know Papyrus very well, actually. A lot of our interactions have been LOADed over by Frisk, and I'm okay with that. Mostly because Sans scares me. Can you blame me? The guy killed me five hundred times, at least!

Upon being left at his house, still covered in snow- yes, Sans abuses his powers, did you really think otherwise?- music began to play in my head.

That's the thing about me. If I hit a monster with even the slightest ill intent, it could be deadly. And there's another thing, as well.

Frisk and I, at first glance, seem to have the same color SOULs. Bright red, for DETERMINATION. But somewhere along the line, I changed. My SOUL looks similar to hers, but it has this big crack down the middle. I should probably get that looked at. Also, it's not the exact same shade of red. Hers is a beautiful scarlet, while mine is crimson.

The color of blood.

Every SOUL has a power. Frisk has time powers, Fin creates shields, and I swear I saw Marcus throwing magic bullet patterns around once. Mine is, apparently, to hear music nobody else can. It helps, at times.

For example, I can tell that Papyrus is currently struggling with the dog he recently adopted. Toby, I believe his name was. I also know that, around Sans, the music changes drastically, **run**. Or maybe that's just me.

The music changes.

"Hi, Papyrus." I try not to pay close attention to him. I just want to collapse on his couch. Maybe watch some television, that'd be great.

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You know what I said earlier? Disregard it please, Mettaton is preforming at the moment. And once you've seen one show, you've seen them all. More than that, once you've seen, or preformed in, thousands of shows you get seriously sick of egotistical haunted robots. At least Napstablook seems happy.

You know, Frisk and I only decided to troll Mettaton because, well... he kept trolling us. And I will never let him live it down. Just because I'm no longer evil certainly doesn't mean I can't be petty.

That music... what does Papyrus want now? Can't he leave me to suffer in peace? Wait. It's Papyrus. Of course he can't.

Please don't tell Sans I said. Please, I like living. And death is painful. Take it from someone experienced.

...Wait, is that an old photo album? I have this huge supply of blackmail material hidden in my bedroom, but I don't have anything of Sans for... obvious reasons. As for Papyrus... I'm cruel, not heartless. And again, Sans would kill me.

Sans and I really don't get along. In case you haven't noticed by now. Bitter? What makes you think that? You're kind of right, though. Not to say I didn't deserve every single one of those deaths, because I think maybe I did. Just... I still can't believe I kept dying to somebody with one HP. Sort of a sore point, please don't ever bring that up again. Frisk said no stabbing, but there are still plenty of ways to kill...

No, bad Chara! You promised no more hurting people! It's just so easy, to take out a blade and... You know, before I fell, I took medication to prevent my occasional psychotic episodes. I should really see about getting more of that.

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Those two... were so cute! That's all I have to say about this. When they were little, they were just adorable!

...Well, now I really feel bad about killing Papyrus that one time. I don't need more reasons to guilt trip myself, so stop giving them to me!

Some of the pictures have them with a dinosaur made of blocks and a small, purple, slightly demonic-looking but still really cute creature. Papyrus was really small... I actually don't recognize some of the backgrounds used in these pictures. Actually, I don't recognize any of the backgrounds with the strange other creatures. Still adorable, though.

I changed my mind. I won't steal any of these photos for blackmail. It just wouldn't feel right.

...I have a conscience now. Damn it.

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You know, despite never having any meaningful interaction with Papyrus, he's really easy to understand. He's just so sincere, all the time.

The ground shakes, and something suddenly feels wrong. Like being left behind. And then the LOADING starts.

...Frisk, I have no idea what you're doing, but you'd better be alright.

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Daichi: And this has been an excerpt from the mind of the local demon child.


	16. The Aftermath

Daichi: Frisk isn't used to things like consequences. However, several thousand RESETs is enough to teach you a thing or two.

Verity: We don't own these things.

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They had done it. They had defeated Devimon. The menace that had plagued them throughout their journey on the island with the Black Gears, gone. There had been a cost, however.

In any other situation, Frisk would have expected Sans or, if she were there, Chara to joke about how their worst enemy had been defeated by fall damage. Not this one. In this situation, Charnette clutched a speckled DigiEgg close to herself, and shut out the rest of the world.

Now, Frisk might, despite her constant messing about with time, still had the maturity of the average ten year old. She wished she could have done more to help Kyubimon. She didn't realize how many sacrifices she'd have to make when she'd agreed to this. It wasn't just sacrifices from herself, but from everybody else, as well.

Just because she could turn back time, that didn't mean she could save everyone. She had learned that lesson once before.

It was strange, how most people she could talk into not fighting just by being herself. This island was really a different place from her home.

There was a cracking sound, and she turned. One of the rocks had split clean in half, revealing an old man in some robes.

"Who are you?" Marcus asked, his SOUL flashing into existence for a second, before Nate pushed him aside.

"Marcus, no, that's a hologram, you'll break the mountain." Frisk had no clue why the self proclaimed cowboy listened, she was just glad that he did. She did not need another landslide on top of the other things she was dealing with at the moment.

"Um... I'm Gennai... should I call you back later or something?"

Frisk shook her head quickly. "No, now's just fine. We're only recovering from a horrific battle that nearly killed us all, it's a great time for a chat."

"Frisk..." Sophia began, "I have no idea how you can say that and somehow not be sarcastic."

"Chara has a monopoly on sarcasm in my family. It's like how Mettaton can insert drama and glitter into everything. It's just a fact of nature." Sure, Flowey might try sarcasm, but he couldn't pull it off quite as well as the red-eyed princess could.

Gennai blinked a few times, before sighing and shaking his head. "Who chose these kids...? Either way, congratulations on beating Devimon, your next opponents are on the Continent of Server, there might be a way for you to get home, see you there, I really need a drink..." Frisk felt that he had meant to cut off the transmission just a little bit earlier. Either way, it wasn't her place to judge.

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They had relocated to be near the beach for the night. Charnette still would not respond to anything anyone said, only following despondently.

Frisk was still ten. But there were things she knew better than most adults. Things like pointless birthday parties in an expensive restaurant, or what it is to be possessed by a being calling herself a demon, and how wonderful it is to take down stop signs and paint them blue.

"Sans, I'm worried about her." She also knew how to identify unhealthy ways of dealing with grief. How could she not? It used to surround her.

"im sure shes handlin it just fine. as long as she doesnt, say, take up walkin unusually close to lava-"

"You did what!?" Yes, she was very good at recognizing the different forms of sadness inhabiting the world.

"i never said I did that."

"Sans, I know you. Don't try to lie to me. Just... We'll finish this conversation later. Right now, Charnette's slightly more important. But we will be continuing this." Maybe. If she remembered. She certainly couldn't trust him to remind her.

It was often said among the residents of Newer Home that, if ever a day came when Sans wouldn't be able to make a joke out of something, the world would end. That wasn't true. He was perfectly capable of dropping the cheery act without the apocalypse.

And Frisk was one of three or four people to realize that, at the end of the day, Sans' cheery skeleton act was just that, an act. She was one of the only people who had seen him when the act was dropped, for better or for worse. She didn't know what he'd been through while Flowey controlled the timeline. She just wished he'd let somebody help. But she knew he wouldn't.

And it would be fine, she had her powers, she could prevent anything horrible from happening. At least, she hoped so.

She shared Gennai's sentiment. Certainly, whoever the last batch of kids had been, even if it included Sans, it couldn't possibly have been this bad.

...Right?

211221121221

Unbeknownst to Frisk, the previous group had been- or at least became- just as bad. For a quick summary:

We already know about Sans and Papyrus.

One of them got disowned after returning to the Real World.

Another already had no family, but lost all chance of getting adopted because people called her creepy.

The last one had something that called itself a spirit of the Digital World following him around ever since. It had meant to return before the next generation were needed. It's still in the Real World, at this point.

So much for that. Obviously, them completing their mission was a seriously lucky break.

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BlackGatomon: Am I the only one here who thinks that the Digital World is doomed?

Daichi: Just like Digimon come in all shapes and sizes, DigiDestined come in all sorts of temperaments. Some more helpful than others.


	17. Preparations

Daichi: These kids may not be the best adjusted in the world...

Tsukaimon: You think so?

Verity: We don't own this stuff, as much as we wish we did.

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The next morning, Frisk decided to confirm her options. She quickly realized that they had much less to work with than they used to. Several of them were covered in mud, and there were cuts and bruises everywhere. She could work with that.

A number of them had worn clothes that they didn't care if they got dirty, but said clothing was now stained with mud in places. Sophia's outfit, for one, was entirely unrecognizable. And Frisk might not have the neatest hair, but ever since arriving, it had just gotten worse. There were no food supplies left, they had three water bottles between the seventeen of them, and they didn't have any medical supplies.

Charnette still wasn't speaking to anyone, which was concerning. On the other hand, Stan seemed to have figured out how to trigger a Digivolution at will, so that worked.

The way she saw it, there were two major ways things could turn out. They could start a new life on the island, which was the much less likely of the two, or they could find a way to Server, and do what Gennai requested of them. This was the path she was willing to take, if only there was a way to ensure success without having to turn back time every other day.

Some Coelamon popped up by the shore. She recognized them as the ones that had brought her back to the main island after Devimon separated them.

"Centarumon figured out how to rejoin the islands, and has sent messengers to the other fragments. He has something to show you, if you have the time."

"Who's Centarumon?" Fin asked.

"He's the one who told us we were DigiDestined and that we have to protect the world," Sophia replied. "I think he'd meant to tell us more, but there were only two of us at the time."

They decided to wait for the island to come back together before making any big decisions.

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Centarumon wasn't the only Digimon the group was excited to see. The other island pieces were coming together, as well. Stan and Marcus were talking about the ones that had helped them, Snowflake and Frigimon.

"Snowflake?" Toy asked.

"Yeah, he's a Mojyamon," Liollmon pawed the ground. "What's the big deal? You've never been very interested in the other Digimon we've met before."

"Nothing. The name just sounds... familiar." Frisk resolved to dig deeper into that, someday. It was one of those things she'd eventually get around to, given that she quite literally had all of the time in the world. The only real limit was her human lifespan, and she could handle that. There were several things that could be accomplished in a human lifespan.

She decided not to ask about the Digimon that the others had met until the islands were all back together again.

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The day the island was whole again was the day they could start arranging for transport to Server. More than that, Frisk could take the others to the ruins where she had met Centarumon. Sans had suggested teleportation, she decided that they would walk. Nobody but her was pleased about this.

Walking gave her time to think, and to plan. She could see thousands of possibilities, and multiple ways to get to each one. The bigger question was which one was most desirable and had best impact upon the future.

This was the way she could ensure their survival. She knew that the possibilities she thought up were far from the only ones, as she couldn't control the others' thought processes. So she compared circumstances to possible alternatives and picked the best possible option at the time. Not that it was easier for her to follow through.

Asriel, Kyubimon... there would always be somebody she couldn't quite save. She wanted everyone to be happy, but in failing that, she would be fine with keeping everyone she cared about alive.

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"Joy. We're back here again," Flowey groaned. Frisk wished she could hand him off to somebody else, but she was the one best suited to putting up with his crap. If only because she knew exactly how to get to him. Mainly using the fact that she was in a position to cut off his pie, and the only other one who could do that was Chara. Who wasn't there.

The ruins looked exactly how they were when Frisk and Sophia had left it. Maybe the moss and vines had grown a bit, but that was just details, really.

"Yeah, this is the place." Sophia seemed to not really care. Whether or not she actually did, Frisk had no clue. Even Dorumon had no idea what her partner was thinking at times. Frisk had no chance whatsoever.

"Flowey, Sophia, please, be nice." She knew begging wouldn't really get her anywhere, but she felt the need to try something.

It was a good thing Centarumon showed up when he did. Frisk didn't think she could take much more awkward conversation.

They should have teleported.

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The return to the innermost parts of these ruins was silent. Nobody knew what to say, so they just didn't say anything. Charnette wasn't making eye contact with anyone, and Frisk was beginning to worry, especially given that she didn't speak to anybody. Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do about that situation. She was a princess time mage, not a therapist.

When Centarumon led them to a stairwell, she just asked herself how she'd never noticed that before. She did have a tendency to ignore important things the first time around.

The bottom of the stairwell was almost completely dark, with the only source of light being the top of the stairs. Centarumon ventured forward a bit and started rummaging through something before coming out with a box.

"Some allies managed to recover these, although not as well as we'd hoped. These are Tags. They are meant to hold items called Crests, which will allow your partners to Digivolve to further levels of strength. Unfortunately, I don't have any of those on me at the moment. I have no clue where they are, but the Tags will let you know when one is nearby. I think. The one who explained it to me wasn't very clear about it, really." This did not bode well.

There were several questions Frisk would have liked to ask, but she realized that it wasn't exactly the best time. So she settled for one in particular.

"Centarumon, we'd like to go to Server. Do you know any way that we could get there?"

"The Coelamon saved a Whamon from a Black Gear once, so he owes me a favor. It'll take a day or so to get in contact." That was just fine.

They had a plan now, albeit maybe not the most cohesive one. Sure, Charnette still wasn't speaking to anyone, but they couldn't have everything.

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Daichi: There should only be one more transition chapter before Server. Hopefully.


	18. Travel

Daichi: Time to start work on the next story arc!

Verity: We don't own the mentioned things at all.

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It had been days since her mind had gone empty. Part of her inner voice had gone, and with it, everything else. All she knew was herself, and the egg. A crack down the middle of the spotted object, and a small, yellow creature fell out. The voice was faint, but as she boarded her ride to a new land, she knew the name of the new form.

Relemon.

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Frisk turned away from where Gargomon and Dorugamon were carrying supplies onto Whamon's back to make sure that Charnette was all right. The smallest member of the group was holding Relemon, but she still seemed unfocused. She wanted to say something, but realized that maybe she wasn't the best person for the job.

She didn't know if anyone was the right person for that job. She wasn't a therapist, and she'd never want to be one. It was difficult enough dealing with her horribly broken family. She didn't need anyone else's problems.

Not that that would stop her from helping if asked. She was a nice person, after all.

The final crate was loaded, and they started out to sea.

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The second hour was when things started getting out of hand. It had begun with Sophia singing something, and that had been just fine. Frisk just wrote in her diary and occasionally paid some modicum of attention to make sure that nobody was dead.

She had thought about bringing out the music box, but she didn't see how a nice melody would cause everyone to calm down, as much as she wished they would. The ocean was filled with colorful fish, so she tried to focus on them for a little while. Some dolphin like Digimon swam up after a bit, and the fish scattered. Still, they were rather chatty, and there was plenty that could be gained from listening to that conversation.

"You know, I'm not sure that we should be around here. I mean, with what's happening on Server, getting attacked by two Ultimate Level overlords at once..."

"Why do you think we're not there? The resistance is led by a BlackAgumon. If even other Dark Digimon can't stand it, what chance to we have to fight them? We can't even go on dry land, and you've met the Gekomon. You know they don't like intruders in their water unless they can sing, so unless you've been hiding some musical talent, we can't. Do. Anything."

"May I point out that a Rookie does not make a good resistance leader?"

"I've heard tell that his previous lifetime reached Mega. He certainly seems to know a thing or two, at least when I met him. Trust me, Server's in good claws. His village might not be very centralized, and only contains Koromon, but they say that three Koromon were part of a group that saved our entire world!"

"See, now I know you're making this up..." The smaller Digimon dove underwater again, but Frisk had picked up exactly what she needed to know.

"Whamon, do you know of any Koromon villages on Server?"

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Nights on the ocean were cold. Frisk had one sweater stained with mud, grass, and a bit of blood that had never quite washed out from the underground. She hugged Terriermon close, hoping to keep out the chill. Sometimes, when nightmares of times past kept her up, she'd open her music box.

Flowey would be surprisingly quiet whenever the melody played. Whether from nostalgia or respect, she didn't know, but at least it kept him quiet.

Days would pass like this, but they would arrive soon enough.

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Blacky, leader of the Koromon village and head of the resistance against Etemon, as well as a supporter of those against Myotismon, was having a bad day. He was just a BlackAgumon that had lived more lifetimes than some of the wisest in the Digital World, appointed as keeper of the Crest of Integrity. That last bit had been recent, after the last one was killed by Etemon. He didn't know if the other Crests still had keepers, but he was going to protect this one for as long as he could.

He didn't know why he was so attached to the Crest, why he waited each day for the first signs of the DigiDestined's arrival from File that the Coelamon had spoken of, but it was the only way to save the continent of Server from tyranny.

Tyranny that was currently staring him down in the form of a swarm of Gazimon and Pagumon. "Pepper Breath!" It destroyed one Pagumon. One hundred and fifty left to kill, not to mention the twenty-seven Gazimon that were assisting the invasion. He knew he shouldn't have sent off the Monochromon herd. They could be relied on, but had such a terrible sense of direction that it was a nightmare to call them back.

His village was being overrun, and there was nothing he could do. What he wouldn't give to again have the surging power of BlackWarGreymon, defender of the Digital World. But that era was currently over, and wouldn't be coming again if he didn't get out of there.

Whamon was bringing the kids to the southwest coast. That was less than a day's journey on foot. He could wait there.

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Frisk hadn't expected their arrival on Server to meet with much fanfare, and was surprised to see the little black Digimon at the shoreline. Sans gathered them all around him and teleported them down. Charnette was still clinging to Relemon and not saying a word, that was starting to get concerning.

"You... you're the DigiDestined, right?"

"You're the first one to recognize us that didn't live in some ruin or other," Sophia noted.

"Yes, well... I'm Blacky. Blacky the BlackAgumon, leader of Koromon village, keeper of the Crest of Integrity. We need your help."

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Daichi: The last two original partners will be a bit more spread out than this.

Tsukaimon: We met three of them before we met Etemon. The fourth isn't planned to appear until Myotismon, but is technically a canon character.


	19. Arrival on the Continent

Daichi: They have finally arrived on Server, where things are changed much more due to the first DigiDestined having had more of an impact.

Verity: She doesn't own these things, except for the character arcs of six kids.

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Frisk hadn't known what to expect, when she had been directed to a continent that she didn't know. Still, the little Digimon seemed friendly. More than that, he had mentioned a Crest.

"Did you say Integrity?" For a moment, she could see Sophia's deep blue SOUL flicker. She probably didn't know she was doing it, as the last week had had them practicing a lot, if only because there weren't any other ways to spend a week on the open ocean with only a whale and the others for company.

"Yes. Why?"

"That's my Crest!" This caused Frisk to realize that it was a good thing Chara wasn't there. Not just because of her murderous tendencies when she got upset, Flowey could be much more unreasonable with that, but because she had no idea what would happen. Having two SOULs of an almost identical color and shade did that.

"You have got to be kidding me," Flowey muttered. "This past week has been terrible, and the first thing that happens is we meet with someone who looks more beat up than we were. This is a horrible sign for the future."

Frisk decided to move the flowerpot to her bag for the time being. "What happened to you?"

"My village was attacked by Etemon's forces. Whether it's because he realized I'm leading the forces against him or because he knows we protect the Crest, I have no idea."

"Who's Etemon?" Terriermon asked.

"Etemon is one of two Digimon who are terrorizing Server. The second one, Myotismon, doesn't have any territory around here, so you don't have to worry about coming across him, but Etemon has claimed the entire Server Desert as his domain, along with the southeast coast. We'll probably run into him sooner or later."

Sophia stepped forward. "My Crest. Now."

"He just said that the village was attacked." Dorumon attempted to talk some sense into her partner. "You know, the place that protected the Crest in the first place?"

"My Crest. Now."

"I think she has a problem," Kotemon observed.

"Well, actually, I don't think Etemon knows the Crest's exact location. I know a few ways to get there that go around the village." Around her, Frisk could hear several sighs of relief. None of them wanted to take on the next evil overlord that quickly."

"Let's go, then!" Sophia decided for the rest of them.

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Frisk was glad for Terriermon's ear around her neck, if only because it reduced the amount of scratching that the thorns gave her. This was the only path that Etemon's forces were not patrolling, mainly because someone would have to be insane to go through there.

Sophia, of course, didn't seem to care. She was well on her way to being more powerful than the rest of them, if only because it would give Dorumon more Digivolutionary capabilities. Her partner followed closely, her tail sweeping aside a path that Charnette could move through. The small girl still didn't often respond to anything anybody said.

Candlemon was actually the closest behind Blacky, simply hopping over the branches and such that got in his way. Gaomon and Liollmon were close behind.

"If I were Leomon, I could just cut through the bush," The cat muttered. Marcus sighed.

"We've been over this, Liollmon. If you Digivolve, we'll be noticed."

"You see, Liollmon, Digivolution lets off a large amount of light. This light, if Etemon knows what to look for, would lead him straight to us." Frisk was rather impressed that Nate had taken the time to compile so many notes on their journey. While they had been travelling, he had written everything down, and was carefully taking more notes as Blacky talked, most likely to come up with a strategy against Etemon.

"You're kidding me, right? From what I've heard about Etemon, he cannot be that intelligent." She supposed that Stan would have a point, but she wasn't risking it.

"Never underestimate your opponent." And she kept forgetting that Toy was there. The little Botamon spent basically all of his time in his unknowing partner's pocket.

"Toy's right, guys. We don't know how smart Etemon is, but we can't allow him to find us." She did not want to repeat any of this. Thorns were painful.

There was still a good amount of grumbling, but for the most part, it quieted down.

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When they finally got out of the thorns, Blacky brought things to a sudden halt.

"He's here. I don't think that he knows where the Crest is, though."

Sophia inspected her shoes. "A little worn, but these'll do. What are those Digimon gathered over there?"

"The small ones are Pagumon, and the large rabbit ones are Gazimon," Toy informed the group. "Etemon must have brought them when Blacky's village was attacked."

"He's right," Blacky confirmed. "There's not as many here as there were when the village was attacked, so they're probably camped out there." Nate quickly jotted down the notes he needed.

"How do you know that?" Fin asked.

"I remember somewhere around a hundred lifetimes or so. Lost count. I can survive to Digivolve pretty far, most times. Actually, I've been getting to Mega pretty consistently, lately. Either way, I know that there are more enemies than this. If you can sneak around them to the waterfall, the legends say that retrieving the Crest will lead the way to the others."

"What about you?" Dorumon asked. "We never did find the Koromon, and without the Crest, you won't have anything to guard."

"I'll find some other resistance member. Maybe I'll go train for a bit. I'll see you around, sometime." The Rookie lizard gave a wave and walked off somewhere.

"I just remembered about fifteen things I'd been meaning to ask him," Toy stated. "Frisk, could you-"

"Not without this whole day being a waste of time." She cut him off immediately, sensing exactly what he was about to ask.

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Sophia led the way through the cave behind the waterfall, followed closely by everyone else. The tag that she carried had begun to glow a deep blue.

The Crest turned out to be a small stone tablet, engraved with a musical note that turned into a spiral at the top. The instant that it faded into her tag, the entire group was hit with hot, dry air.

They had left the forest behind, and entered the desert. The place that, according to their ally, contained most of Etemon's power.

This could not end well.

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Daichi: The biggest change here is that the Koromon were not behind the waterfall. Most of them are actually fine, though. Just being kept in a large prison. The jailbreak for that is going to be fun.


	20. A Night of Reflecting

Daichi: Welcome to Server, where… there's a lot of desert. Also, the kids have to find their Crests. Fun times.

Verity: She doesn't really own this, just plays with it a lot.

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During the evening, it was Frisk's turn to watch for what was going on in the desert. The group had set themselves up at the edge of the tunnel, planning to venture into the heart of Etemon's territory the next day. Still, despite the air of danger, it seemed to be a rather nice night, and good things had happened.

First of all, Relemon had become Viximon again over dinner. This caused Charnette to perk up a little, but not by much. Frisk was getting worried. The last time she had seen someone so despondent was when… she cut off her line of thought.

According to Centarumon, there was a time difference between their worlds, so she didn't have to worry about Chara getting up to anything, and Flowey was right there, where she could keep an eye on him. The fact that the one who had most likely initiated the time difference was in no state to reverse it certainly helped.

And it was turning out to be a nice night with relatively few worries, and the sound of the breeze rustling leaves in the trees and the waterfall, over on the Pagumon side. She wouldn't be getting out the music box that night. After all, she could hear that song any time, while she would most likely be traveling through the desert for the foreseeable future, away from trees and their leaves, or even water.

When the only piece of greenery around for miles is going to be Flowey, you take as much pleasant experience with nature as you can get.

"Hey, Frisk…?" Terriermon turned to her, seemingly uncertain of what she was going to say.

"What is it, Terriermon?"

"When we find your Crest… when I Digivolve beyond the Champion Level… what do you think it will be like? Will it be really cool? Or… will we end up like Charnette and Viximon?" Broken. The word hung in the air, something that the both of them were thinking, but neither dared to breathe aloud.

"Don't be silly. If I were the type to fall apart like that, it would have happened a long time ago." She forced herself to smile, to ruffle the Digimon's ears. "And I'm sure, even if we don't know what your next form is going to be, that it will be amazing."

She didn't like fighting. She didn't want to be in a situation that would ever force her partner to Digivolve farther than Gargomon. But it was a distinct possibility, and at this point, almost an inevitability.

And she wouldn't break. Her Crest would be Determination, she knew that, although she'd never told anyone what the scarlet color of her SOUL meant. She'd almost broken before, but now… nothing could shatter her.

She just wished that the others could all feel that same resolve.

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When morning dawned, bright and early, Frisk took it upon herself to ensure that everyone was prepared to continue. The fewer times she needed to LOAD, the better, especially considering that she had no clue how Chara would handle it. She had seemed to be getting better, but sudden shifts in spacetime could easily change that.

Fin was in charge of rations and water, both of which she could tell would become scarce the deeper into the desert they ventured. While they probably could get friendly Digimon to help, as Blacky had specifically said that he was leading a resistance, she'd rather not.

She shouldn't have had to do this. She wasn't the oldest, she didn't have a Crest, there was an actual adult in this situation. Unfortunately, the oldest had no ambitions, the one with the Crest was too ambitious, and the adult was apathetic. Not a winning situation, any way you looked at it.

"Nate, do you have everything?"

"I have my pencils, pens, notebook, and glasses. Everything else doesn't matter so much." She'd take that. That notebook was sure to be filled with information that they could use to survive. It wasn't like they'd had experience in the desert, anyway. The closest thing to that was Hotland, and it had had air conditioning.

"Good. I don't want us to lose anything when we've come this far. We don't want to have to explain to everyone why we suddenly need new things. Our clothes are bad enough as it is."

"You assume we'll be going back." Frisk nodded.

"There were others before us, weren't there? If they'd gone back to our world, they'd need a way to do it. Once Etemon and Myotismon are gone, we can go back through that way."

"Your logic seems sound, but it's supposedly been millennia since then. Even if it were still there, it would take a very long time to find it."

Flowey scoffed. "Please. Like time matters to us…" Frisk hurriedly shushed him.

"What does he mean?" Kotemon asked, so quietly she almost didn't realize he had spoken.

"Just… well… we observe time a bit differently from how most people do." What was it Alphys' anime had called people like her again? Time masters? That sounded about right. Princess Frisk Dreemurr, Time Master had the perfect ring to it, as well.

Nate opened his mouth, presumably to ask another question, one that an honest answer would most likely mean revealing her powers, but at that moment, Frisk noticed that everybody else seemed ready to go. Even Sophia and Marcus, who had been in charge of slipping around the waterfall area for supplies, were standing there, carrying what they could.

She slipped on her bag, glad for this chance to avoid the conversation. "We should really go. If we aren't lucky, the Pagumon will start looking

into the cave soon."

She couldn't help but feel a little guilty at dodging the conversation like that, but they had to cover as much ground as possible. If finding

Sophia's Crest was meant to lead them to the others, then they would find the others, defeat Etemon, and then see what this 'Myotismon' was all about.

They all started moving at once, equally excited and terrified by this next step into the world that they had discovered. Little Charnette clutching Viximon tightly to herself, Fin still wielding his trusty frying pan… and Frisk at the head of them all, not out of choice, but out of duty.

Something warmed in her chest, and she wondered if, for a moment, she had briefly let her SOUL show. Something about this world made bringing it out easier to do, and it almost scared her.

Almost, but not quite. For while Frisk wasn't fearless, she was determined, and in most situations, that was close enough.

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BlackGatomon: You know, we don't have a set schedule. You don't need filler.

Daichi: It's called character development. You know, the whole basis of the new prequel?

BlackGatomon: You're writing a prequel?

Verity: You work here. How can you not know this has a prequel?

Tsukaimon: ...And their devolving into nonsense again. Wonderful.


	21. The Crest of Perseverance

Daichi: Welcome back to the Digital World, where it's mostly desert. ...Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a Digital World where the main characters didn't have to cross one or several.

Verity: We don't own this.

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They had been walking for all of two hours, and complaints were already coming from people other than Flowey. Frisk just sighed. She'd gotten the feeling that was going to happen. It wasn't like they'd had a choice though. They needed to find the other Crests, and they couldn't fight that many Pagumon and Gazimon. Even if they'd Digivolved, it would have just drawn Etemon to their location.

It was kind of scary that she, the one who avoided fighting if she possibly could, knew so much about war and battle strategies, but that came from being a princess and related to Chara. It wasn't a type of knowledge you could avoid.

Eventually, she spotted something that was sure to help. "Is that an oasis? I'm not seeing things, right?"

"Not unless we're all seeing things," Kotemon confirmed. The group made their way over to it.  
"Look, it's a roadsign!" Viximon pointed out.

Terriermon leaned over Frisk's shoulder. "Bit City, one month north. Temple of Perseverance, two hours north. There's also something marked one day north, but I can't tell what it is."

"It's also an old sign," Dorumon pointed out. "What are the odds of it being accurate?"

The group paused for a moment, before Frisk turned to the rest of them.

"Temple of Perseverance, huh? What are the odds that we'll find Nate's Crest there?"

"No more wandering around lost?" Flowey asked. "No more being directly in the sun, in the middle of the desert? No more risk of wilting?"

Sophia sighed. "Frisk, can't we leave him here?"

"We're in the middle of the desert. It would be cruel to leave him here… as much as some of us might want to."

Still, it was decided, and they started off towards the Temple of Perseverance.

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"Are we there yet?" Liollmon asked.

"Liollmon, for the fiftieth time, no, we are not there yet!" Marcus snapped. "Do you see a temple anywhere near here?"

"Just up ahead," Gaomon stated. Marcus groaned.

It was a nice looking place, Frisk had to admit. A bit run down, but given the state of Centarumon's temple, not unsurprising. It also wouldn't surprise her too much if someone did live there, if they could just avoid attracting undue attention from Etemon. At the very least, the structure was still there and none of the walls were collapsed.

"There's something there!" She heard a sharp whisper.

"Please tell me it's the DigiDestined."

"...Do you hear that?" Terriermon asked. "Please tell me you heard it."

"I did. You can come out. We won't hurt you." A shudder, and two small Digimon emerged from the sand.

"Finally! I can't believe you dragged me under there!" The Gazimon complained to his friend. "Honestly, Armadimon, it's like you don't have a brain sometimes."

"Is it my fault we're two of the last ones at the temple because you almost joined a cult?"

"It's not a cult!"

"Because organization run by evil overlord sounds so much cooler-"

"Um, hello?" Sophia asked. "Are you all right? We're kind of hoping to get our friend's Crest and go, so…"

"Oh, the Crest's inside," The Gazimon stated flippantly. "Only the one meant to get the Crest can go get it, per Lady Laylamon's orders, but I suppose you can stand around the main hall. It does have air conditioning."

"An ancient temple… with air conditioning?" Marcus asked in disbelief.

"The Digital World has had things like air conditioning for countless millennia," Armadimon said. "So, come on, rest, maybe you could meet Sorcermon while you're in there. Sovereigns know he hasn't left the place since Etemon came to power, though you can't exactly blame him."

And honestly, they really couldn't.

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When they stepped through the doors of the temple, the first thing that happened was Sophia ducking a tin can that flew at her head. "...Really?"

"Where did that even come from?" Flowey asked.

"That door over there," Kotemon answered.

"Well done! Now, who are you and what are you doing here at this time of day?" Armadimon ran to the door in a panic.

"Sorcermon, these are the DigiDestined! Remember them? The ones meant to save our world?"

"Vaguely," The voice responded grumpily. "But it's the middle of the day. Just because you and Gazimon like being awake under this sun-"

"You don't even go outside. You don't get to use that excuse anymore," Gazimon cut him off immediately. "And the kids are here now, so just give the Perseverance kid his Crest and you can go back to bed."

"Crest's down the hall, in the room of trials. Lady Laylamon tried to stop us from installing it, but just handing someone something important to the fate of the world? What's the point in that?"

"not killing the new recruits?" Sans suggested.

"...Maybe. Look, whichever one of you thinks they've got what it takes to get the Crest, just go and do it already."

Frisk decided she didn't like Sorcermon very much.

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"I'm somewhat confused by what this-" Nate gestured at the room covered in Monster style puzzles "-Has to do with keeping the Digital World safe."

"You try telling Sorcermon no," Gazimon pointed out. "I mean, you only just met him, but the only one who can get him to back down is Lady Laylamon, and she's off Continent right now on a mission from the Sovereigns and nobody knows when she'll be back."

"If ever?" Kotemon suggested.

"Oh, no, she'll definitely be back. She's been the reasonable authority figure on Server for more lifetimes than most can remember. It's not a matter of if she'll come back, trust me."

"Fine…" Nate started doing the puzzles, suddenly thankful that Alphys had worked out the kinks in the random puzzle generator machine. He was still a bit less thankful that Mettaton had somehow managed to talk him into testing it, but at least he knew how to do most puzzles without really thinking now.

Still, the final one was decidedly anticlimactic.

"This is your final puzzle?" Kotemon asked, clearly unconvinced.

"It is one of the most ancient puzzles in the history of the Digital World, really easy or not," Gazimon confirmed. Nate decided against telling Gazimon his first opinion of the puzzle- the fact that it looked like a six-year-old made it. He decided to, as Sophia had so eloquently put it, take his Crest- which seemed to be some kind of moon symbol- and go.

The others wouldn't like dealing with Sorcermon more than they'd have to, anyway.

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Daichi: As I've said, the first group has had a lot of influence on Server, up to Mikemon taking over the Continent.

Verity: You said you wouldn't be-

Daichi: I said we wouldn't be seeing them. Laylamon's off Continent on business.


	22. Bits and Pieces

Daichi: In this one, let's see if they actually get somewhere.

BlackGatomon: She owns very little. Nothing that requires specific mention. No names you would recognize.

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Frisk supposed that not every temple she came across could still be intact. The building in front of the group had several craters, no roof, and a single wall that wasn't filled with holes. It was, however, covered with graffiti in the written language of the Digital World.

"Can any of you read that?" She didn't know why she'd asked. Toy peered out of Sans' pocket.

"It's an archaic form. It says 'Daemon was here, Laylamon's a loser.' I'm serious."

"What's a Daemon?" Stan asked.

"He's recorded in the legends as one of six great Demon Lords. The most powerful of them, and the leader. They never say what happened to them, though I guess he's still evil."

"Six Demon Lords?" Nate questioned. "That seems like an odd number."

"I've read the legends," Dorumon stated. "They definitely say six."

"...Why are we standing around and arguing about legends?" Flowey asked. "I know you're idiots, but you can't seriously be thinking of spending more time in this desert than necessary!"

Sometimes, Frisk hated to admit that the flower had a point. Mainly on days he was being more insufferable than usual, which took some doing, but did happen. Most of the time, if he didn't, Chara would threaten to throw him back down the mountain.

So, given that Chara wasn't there, this was rather surprising. But right then, what mattered was the roars and squawking coming from further in the desert. Soon, a dinosaur Digimon came charging through, followed by one that looked like a chicken.

"We should probably get out of here before they notice us," Fin suggested. Frisk nodded.

"Sans, how far can you safely teleport us?" The addition of the extra word was important. His range had limits, but the farther he went, and the less familiar the place, the more likely mishaps were to happen.

Frisk had learned that unfortunate fact a long time ago. Or never, depending on how you counted it. She'd stopped trying to figure it out soon after she learned that her powers existed. The headache simply wasn't worth it.

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"is this far enough?" 'This' was a rather large city, buildings all the colors of the rainbow, with Digimon of all Levels and Attributes walking around.

"Well, I don't see any rabid chickens," Flowey remarked. "Does anyone particularly want to check?" Frisk made a note that, once they got home, Flowey was not to get any more pie.

Assuming that the amount of time passing was less than it took her to forget this. Which would have to be a long time. Turning back time constantly was annoying for everyone, but it was much worse if you, like Frisk and Sans, had a perfect memory.

"Hello! Welcome to Bit City!" A rather red bird greeted them.

"That's a Muchomon," Kotemon stated. "They are known for being rather loud. So much for peace and quiet…" But they were out of the worst parts of the desert. And that was something.

"That's… pretty far, even for land travel," Sophia remarked, and Frisk remembered the sign they'd found… assuming it was accurate, of course. Knowing their luck, it was hard to be certain.

Of course, this meant that they now had to rethink all of their travel plans and calculations. So it wasn't all good. But there seemed to be less chance of them getting sand in their eyes, which helped if only because Nate was half blind as it was. No, everyone would rather not ruin it further, or worse, have another group member needing glasses.

Right then, Frisk decided to focus on the good parts of this. Everything else could come later.

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"And over here we have the sandwich vendors. There's ramen on the other side of the city, but don't mention it here. They're pretty competitive."

"I'm sure it can't be that bad," Marcus stated, before getting hit with a soda can. "Okay, maybe not…"

Frisk sighed. "What have we told you about tempting fate?"

"Not to do it?"

"Exactly." She knew that the amount of time she'd RESET had given her the time required to learn a lot of things, but sometimes it seemed like only half of them had any intelligence at all.

Though to be fair, the two most brainless ones had Undyne as a role model, so she understood where it came from. She just didn't like it. Yes, she could fix the mistakes that led to the worst possible types of disasters. That didn't mean she had to enjoy it.

In fact, if it was up to her, she'd live a quiet life with minimal need to twist time and space. Unfortunately, she normally lived in the same universe as Flowey and Chara. So peace and quiet had always been off the table.

"The old sand shipyard is over that way, but it's been blocked off forever by this weird rock. Odd pattern on it, looked sort of like a stylized shield, but that doesn't make any sense. We've never been visited by knight Digimon or anything, unless you count BlackWarGreymon, and nobody counts BlackWarGreymon…"

"What do you think?" Terriermon asked.

"Maybe we should check it out?" Sophia suggested. "It's hard to get much more out of the way than we already are."

"No, you don't want to go there," Muchomon quickly stated. "There's nothing there that any Rookie Digimon or their partner could possibly want! No Ultimate Level power or anything!"

"And here I though lies couldn't be more obvious than when it's Papyrus," Flowey noted. "At least he sometimes knows when to stop talking. Volume control, on the other hand…"

"Flowey…" Frisk warned. The flower glanced at Sans and stopped talking. Which was good. She didn't want to have to redo the entire day just because her sort-of brother didn't know when to shut up.

It had happened before. Not often, but it did. Those were generally the bad days.

"So, sand shipyard?" Stan asked.

"You really want to go there?" The Muchomon puffed out his chest. "In that case… you'll have to make it past me, first." Frisk didn't find it much scary. But she'd been with Chara in her demon phase, been around a Sans that actually bothered to fight back, and dealt with the things that tended to happen before every RESET. So maybe she wasn't the person to ask on that.

"And cue demonic bird," Marcus groaned. "Why can't we fight anything that makes sense?"

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Later, after recovering the Crest of Chivalry by tricking a pair of gullible PawnChessmon, evading the Muchomon's friends, and a much better timed teleportation, the DigiDestined had obtained a sandship.

Well, not so much obtained as stolen, and Frisk didn't think any of them actually knew how to stop it. They'd just all decided to escape the same way, and apparently teleporting from a moving vehicle was inherently dangerous.

She wasn't entirely sure if Sans wasn't just making that up, but decided to go with it. If it meant she didn't have to repeat a day, she'd be glad just to pretend that this whole experience had never happened.

And then they hit a cactus and sunk the ship.

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Daichi: I'm not entirely sure how they sunk a ship in the middle of the desert. But they did.

Verity: Or, it's because you needed a reason for them to not just hit the entire continent with a battleship.

Daichi: That too.


End file.
